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COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 






PUBLIC SPEAKING 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 



BY 

JAMES ALBERT WINANS 

Professor of Public Speaking in Cornell University 



REVISED EDITION 




NEW YORK 

THE CENTURY CO. 

1917 



>>* 






Copyright, 1915, 1917, by 
James A. Winans 



MAR -9 1917 

^G!, A 455865 



TO 

HAMILTON COLLEGE 
Alma Mateb. 

IN RECOGNITION OF THE FACT THAT 

FOR A HUNDRED YEARS SHE HAS 

UPHELD THE DIGNITY OF THE 

SPOKEN AS WELL AS OF 

THE WRITTEN WORD 



PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION 

Much that might have been kept for the Preface, and 
thereby safely hidden from students, has been set down 
in the Introduction and in other parts of this book. 
There remains only what I wish to say to my own tribe, — 
the teachers of public speaking. 

The scope of the book is indicated by its title ; or would 
be were it not for the fact that the term public speaking 
is now being stretched to cover all oral expression. At 
any rate, I treat here of practical public speaking, and 
consider within the scope of this book whatever pertains 
to preparing and delivering one's own speech. "What- 
ever in this text pertains to interpretation is introduced 
chiefly for its bearing upon the training of practical pub- 
lic speakers ; and I have taken a broad view of what does 
bear upon such training. 

The field is too large for complete treatment in one 
volume of convenient size. My endeavor has been to 
make a book which should form the foundation for prac; 
tically all the work in this field; but with it should be 
used a book on argumentation, one or more books of 
speeches, and also, for the sake of gaining various points 
of view, other texts of the same general scope as this. 
The main work of the student of public speaking, of 
course, should be speech-making ; and a great deal of his 
instruction must be received as individual criticism. 

Some teachers may be interested in a somewhat more 

vii 



viii PREFACE 

definite statement of my method of procedure. "While 
the book has been written in the order which, after much 
experimentation, seemed best, especially with regard to 
economy of space, I do not follow its order strictly in 
teaching. I ask my class to read the Introduction and 
study with care Chapter 11,^ for discussion on the third 
day. I assign a topic of general interest for a discus- 
sion at the second meeting, and arrange for more care- 
fully prepared speeches to begin on the fourth day. For 
these, outlines based upon the simple form in Chapter 
XII are required. After these speeches Chapter XIII is 
studied and discussed. After another round of speeches 
we take up Chapters III, IV and V. After a third round 
of speeches, we consider Chapter XIV, and study and 
deliver the selection. Who is to Blame? The first stage 
of gesture training is brought in about this time, but the 
speakers are urged to gesture freely, regardless of form, 
from the start. After another round of original speeches, 
we study together another selection, perhaps A Liberal 
Education. This keeps us busy till the Holidays, in a 
three-hour course. After New Year's we have study of 
gesture somewhat more advanced, and end the half-year 
with either original speeches or selections individually 
prepared. Besides the speeches and selections men- 
tioned, each student has part in discussions of principles, 
in impromptu speeches, and has trials of speeches before 
instructors and in small groups. Much the greater part 
of his time is put upon practice work, but we have one 
preliminary examination and a final examination. 

The mind of the student is constantly directed to the 
necessity of interesting his audience, of being clear and 
convincing; but we reserve for the second term system- 
atic study of the problems of interest and persuasion. 

J The chapter numbers given are those of the second edition. 



PREFACE IX 

We put most of our time again upon practice work, mak- 
ing speeches of many kinds and by many methods, and 
including some selections. In a second year of work for 
upperclassmen we attempt a thoroughgoing study of 
principles. Masterpieces are read, and illustrative mat- 
ter is drawn, also, from current affairs, politics, reforms, 
from advertisements and from whatever can be made to 
serve. Speeches are made impromptu and extempore, 
and each student is required to select a major topic on 
which he writes several speeches, which are revised with 
care. Debate in the narrower sense is at present studied 
in a separate course; but I am not sure that this is a 
wise policy. In the advanced work one feature is the 
giving of lectures by students, usually based upon a text- 
book. I anticipate having papers and lectures upon 
some of the problems not fully developed in this text; 
for example, upon the restraint of radical action, attack- 
ing authorities, and the relation of novelty to persuasion. 

I have not thought it best to fill up the book with long 
extracts from speeches ; especially as we have now many 
books of extracts and complete speeches to draw from. 
I have preferred to illustrate with briefly stated prob- 
lems, drawn from matters well within the understanding 
of intelligent people ; thereby not only saving space, but 
also applying the principle of ^'reference to experience." 
Such extracts as are given will be found useful for illus- 
trating more principles than those which they directly 
support. 

Not many exercises are given in this book, for I believe 
one teacher is rarely able to use to good advantage an- 
other's exercises. To get the other teacher's ideas and 
suggestions is stimulating ; but set exercises, such as can 
be set down in books, are rarely helpful. Here and there 



X PREFACE 

in this book suggestions are given, and in Chapter X are 
a good many suggested programs. In general, I have 
tried not to embarrass the teacher in the exercise of his 
discretion in adapting the book to his own situation. 
When I have spoken somewhat positively in regard to 
methods, it has been with reluctance, and from a belief 
that the ways insisted upon were too important to pass 
over, and that it would be cowardly to refuse to express 
my belief. 

One lives and one learns. I believe that it makes a 
great deal of difference how public speaking is taught; 
but I do not suffer from the delusion that there is but 
one way to do things well. I have taken a great deal of 
pains to get acquainted with other teachers and learn of 
their ways ; and I know that you who are reading this 
may be using methods that seem to me quite wrong, and 
yet getting good results. I have tried to produce for 
your consideration, therefore, a book of principles which 
should be adaptable to the work of any one who agrees 
with me in fundamentals. 

I accept as inevitable the fact that some will disagree 
fundamentally with my teachings. I only ask from them 
the indulgence of a fair reading. Our subject is yet in 
an unsettled state, and wide differences of opinion are 
unavoidable, perhaps desirable. I hope that in the fu- 
ture we shall have more established truth as a result of 
the scholarly efforts of the young men now entering our 
field. As for myself, I shall be happy if after my fellow- 
laborers have reported upon this work, I can believe I 
have contributed a little to the better day. 

And here an invocation to my critics! I hope they 
will prove wrong my statement in the Introduction that 
honest criticism is hard to get. If you have any pleasant 
things to say, please say them ; and if you have unpleas- 



PREFACE xi 

ant things to say, please say them — to me. I do not 
profess, hypocritically, that I like adverse criticism; but 
I promise to receive it with the meekness of Moses (see 
Exodus, 2:12), and to give it as fair consideration as a 
poor human is capable of. I trust it is not too sensational 
to say that I do not believe this the best possible book on 
this subject. I believe that good books on public speak- 
ing have been written in the past. I hope that better 
ones will yet be written, and I hope to write one of them 
myself. Therefore, your criticisms, I pray! This does 
not mean that I send this book out with excessive modesty, 
either real or assumed. If I did not believe that out of 
years of experience and study I have produced something 
worthy of your attention, I should not publish it. 

Of the matter contained in Chapters III and IV, read 
as a paper at a conference, one teacher said, ' ^ That 's all 
right; but, of course, it is not practical." I am pre- 
pared to say that if that teaching is not practical, then no 
teaching is practical. There may easily be ^Hoo much 
theory" in a course; but sound theory is practical. 
Some may have courses so brief that there is time only 
for a little speaking ; but we find it profitable at Cornell 
to introduce a considerable part of the matter in this 
book into a course for engineers which meets but twice a 
week for a half-year. After all, one is always proceeding 
on some theory, and one's students have some amazing 
theories. We want much practice ; but we should found 
practice upon sound principles. Practice which is not 
based upon sound principles is not practical. I believe 
in valid scientific theory, nailed down with the ^^ brass 
tacks" of practical suggestions and work. . . . 

I know well some will not approve of this book because 
it is not written in what they consider a proper textbook 



xii PREFACE 

style. I have not hidden behind the third person, or 
the ponderous *^ editorial we" ; but have spoken as teacher 
to student. Again, I have not put a large number of 
labels on all sorts of things. Labels are very tempting, 
and sometimes handy; and also at times very trouble- 
some. I have sought the happy mean. And I have not 
sought new labels when I thought the old serviceable. 
But back of the lack of labels is the lack of dogmatic 
rules. A teacher who was a student in our summer 
school argued that some college teacher should furnish 
a syllabus for public speaking and should set down things 
just exactly as they are, without any discussion or any 
leeway for the student. One is not surprised to learn 
that this gentleman is a teacher of mechanics. Of course, 
the thing has been attempted often enough, and will be 
again. It is much easier, when one wants quick and 
showy results, to be dogmatic. The method produces 
contented and docile students, for the most part; only, 
the students best worth while may revolt, and all may be 
disappointed later when they find that the dogmatic 
teachings are not readily adaptable to many practical 
situations. I have insisted, throughout this book, on 
taking the student into my confidence, and on trying to 
stimulate him to think for himself. This I do in my 
own classes; and although my students are not particu- 
larly docile, or impressed with the belief that my ideas 
are always right, I am satisfied with the result. I like 
to see them grow. I have particularly endeavored to 
lead students of this book to view speaking as a real and 
practical matter, having to do with actual human con- 
cerns. And I have not hesitated to discuss anything 
which might lead them to observe human nature as it is. 
I have wished students using this book to become intel- 
ligent on the subject, not merely to learn rules. I have 



PREFACE xiii 

therefore explained much. But I have not stopped with 
explanation. I not only wish them to understand but 
to believe that what is urged is wise, or to form an intelli- 
gent belief to the contrary. And I have not only wished 
them to believe, but also to do. I have particularly 
wished them to have the right attitude toward public 
speaking. Many passages have been written as the im- 
mediate result of class-room struggles. I find in many 
students, for example, prejudice against emotion and 
imagination. This I have labored to overcome. If any 
one says that, after all, the chief thought in Chapters III 
and IV is that a speaker should master his subject, I 
shall admit the charge. I have devoted space to what 
may seem to us a truism, because I wish to impress the 
truism, and show how it can be put into practice. How- 
ever, I believe much more than the truism develops in the 
process, — ^principles we need throughout our work. 

While I have not attempted to reduce all the topics 
of the subject to a simple system, which seems to me 
impossible without artificiality, still I believe the work 
has unity. The key word is Attention. I have not in- 
sisted upon this idea everywhere, but everywhere atten- 
tion is the underlying thought. It may be that some 
other thought would serve as the center of thinking on 
this subject; but more and more my ideas group them- 
selves about this center, and it seems to me that no other 
can be equally good for the student of public speaking. 

As regards sources, I have tried with scrupulous care 
to give credit to whomever it is due. I can conceive of 
no good reason for not doing so. But since one can never 
tell where his ideas come from, and since a preface is 
essentially egotistical, I will here set down, for those 
interested enough to read, a few remarks in regard to the 
influences I have been under. I was for four years in 



xiv PREFACE 

Hamilton College, and was much influenced by its tradi- 
tions and by Professor Brainard G. Smith. Most of 
Professor Smith's teaching, as was usual twenty years 
ago, related to delivery. With my principles of teaching 
he can have little sympathy; but I am indebted to him 
for his common-sense standards. After two years spent 
in high school teaching, I came to Cornell and served 
under the stimulating leadership of Professor Duncan 
Campbell Lee, who showed me how to teach without 
rules and without demanding imitation. I have had the 
advantage of a summer term under Dr. and Mrs. S. S. 
Curry, and have been helped by Dr. Curry 's books. But 
it would be unfair to these teachers and untrue to fact 
to say that I have derived any great part of the teach- 
ings of this book from them. I doubt if any one of them 
would own me as a disciple. The books from which I 
have drawn are too numerous to remember; but I 
acknowledge an indebtedness, in regard to teaching deliv- 
ery, to Kirby's Public Speaking and Beading. In re- 
gard to the psychological foundations of this treatise, I 
believe I have made full acknowledgments. . . . 

I wish to express my gratitude for help received in a 
long evening's talk with my former teacher of psychology. 
Professor William Harder Squires, of Hamilton College, 
and in several conversations with Guy Montrose Whipple, 
now Professor of Educational Psychology in the Univer- 
sity of Illinois. To Professors Frank B. Brown, of South 
Dakota State College, John M. Clapp, of Lake Forest 
College, Harry Bainbridge Gough, of DePauw Univer- 
sity, James Milton 'Neill, of the University of Wiscon- 
sin, Charles W. Paul, of the University of Virginia, and 
Charles H. Woolbert, of the University of Illinois, to men 
who are or have been my colleagues in the Department of 
Public Speaking in Cornell University George A. Ever- 



mr^ 



PREFACE XV 

ett, Smiley Blanton, Alex M. Drummond, Guy B. Much- 
more, Elam J. Anderson, Theodore T. Stenberg and 
Roland C. Hugins, for suggestions and encouragement, 
given in letters and conversations (and sometimes heated 
combats ! ) ; to William Strunk, Jr., Professor of English 
in Cornell University, for reading a large portion of my 
manuscript; to Messrs. Muchmore, Drummond, Ander- 
son and Stenberg for reading portions of the manuscript 
and assisting in the proof-reading; to Professor Much- 
more for preparing voice and gesture exercises; to Wil- 
lard Austen, Librarian of the Cornell University Library 
for many helpful suggestions; and to my wife and my 
mother for their encouraging confidence, I make grateful 
acknowledgments. 

J. A. WiNANS. 

November 8^ 1915, 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 

In this second edition, following only a year after the 
first, I have made no radical changes, but have tried 
throughout to increase the clarity of expression and to 
add helpful suggestions. 

The most noticeable change is in order. Chapters II, 
VI, VII, VIII, and IX of the first edition are in this 
placed last, where they are out of the way of the general 
reader, but are still within easy reach of the teacher who 
may wish, as I do, to take them up early in his course. 
Chapter I (now II) I have kept in its place, because I 
wish to emphasize my belief that the student of speech- 
making should begin by making speeches, for which he 
needs some sound ideas, and because I believe the chap- 
ter establishes a desirable view-point for the whole sub- 
ject. 

There is no certainly best order. At any rate, there is 
no order which many will accept as best. It will be 
found entirely feasible to take up the chapters referred 
to, or those on selecting subjects, finding material and 
making outlines, as early as one pleases. I think it best 
to get on at first with some rather simple notions of the 
topics mentioned, and postpone more thorough study of 
them until my students have, by experience and study, 
gained some knowledge of fundamental principles. 

From the various kindly suggestions which I have re- 
ceived, about order and about including this and omit- 
ting that, I am inclined to believe, not that I am surely 
right, but that I am not nearly so wrong as I might have 



xviii PREFACE 

been. It is, of course, impossible to satisfy all ; or even 
to satisfy myself. I am, nevertheless, grateful for the 
suggestions, which I have found most helpful. 

The numerous requests for suggestions in regard to 
the use of the book I hope to answer soon, but it has 
seemed to me that my answer might better be published 
for the eyes of teachers only, and not be added to an 
already rather bulky textbook. 

One point I should like to make in this connection: 
that a very poor use of the book is to make students 
swallow it whole. My ambition is to make its readers 
think for themselves, and to become intelligent on the 
subject, capable, not of applying ^' rules," but of adapt- 
ing my suggestions and the suggestions of experience to 
situations that may confront them. I seek to get reac- 
tions from my own students ; and especially by propound- 
ing practical problems and by asking for illustrations of 
the principles. 

To the few who seem determined to judge the book on 
the assumption that it is an attempt at a systematic 
treatise on the philosophy, or the psychology, of public 
speaking, I must insist that it is no such thing. It is a 
practical textbook, for the use both of college students 
and of those who must teach themselves. I am gratified 
to know that many of both classes have found it suited 
to their needs. I have included topics, or omitted them, 
in accordance with my belief in their utility for the pur- 
pose in hand. 

Let me say, what seems hardly necessary to say, that 
I make no pretense of being a psychologist; but that I 
make no apology for endeavoring to use the work of any 
man who can help the teachers of public speaking to get 
their feet on a solid foundation. 

The criticism that has interested me most has come to 



PREFACE xix 

my fellow teachers from several students at Cornell: 
that the book is so interesting and so clear that they have 
trouble in fixing its contents in mind, for the very lack 
of friction ! Should I take this criticism to heart ? 

In addition to the acknowledgments of the former 
preface, I wish to thank Professor J. S. Gaylord, of the 
University of Wisconsin, and the many others who have 
taken pains to write me concerning the first edition. I 
wish them and those who maj^ write me about the book in 
the future, to believe that all kindly meant comments are 
gladly received, whether meekly accepted or not. 

ar. A. wiNANs. 

Cornell Heights, Ithaca, N. Y., 
December 22, 1916. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. IXTRODUCTIOX 3 

Public speaking in practical affairs. As a 

study. 

II. COiNTVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 20 

Public and private speaking compared. How 
to be conversational in public delivery. 

III. Principles of Attention 50 

Forms of attention. Derived interest. Nov- 
elty. Concreteness. Imagination. Sustained 
attention. 

IV, Attention of the Speaker to His Topic . . 77 
Applications of the preceding chapter to the 
three stages of preparation. 

y. Emotion 97 

Emotion necessary. Control of. James-Lange 
theory. Emotion and imagination. 

VI. Attention of the Audience — Interest . . . 109 
Variations in audiences. Principles of Chap- 
ter III applied. Illustrations. Qualities of 
style. 

VII. The Expository Speech 176 

Pure exposition. Exposition in Argument. 
Use of charts, etc. 

VIII. Persuasion Influencing Conduct .... 185 

Persuasion defined. The audience analyzed 
with reference to persuasion. Attention the- 
ory of. Motives and emotion. Imagination. 
Suggestion, crowds and mobs. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

IX. Persuasion and Belief ........ 245 

Attention and belief. Logical argument. Emo- 
tion and belief. Common ground. Identifi- 
cation of beliefs. Conservatism. Precedent 
and authority. Personal attitude of the 
speaker. Tact. Persuasion not trickery. 
Making the impression permanent. 

X. Selecting the Subject 349 

Questions to consider. List of topics. 

XI. Finding IMaterial — Originality 369 

Use of the library. Reference works. How to 
read. What is originality. The moral ques- 
tion involved. 

XII. Extemporaneous or Written — Plans and Out- 
lines 385 

Advantages and disadvantages of various meth- 
ods of speaking. How to avoid defects of 
extemporaneous address. Need of planning. 
Importance of outlines. How to outline 
speeches. 

XIII. Further Analysis of Mental Action as Af- 

fecting Delivery 424 

Phrasing, centering, echoes, pause, inflection, 
etc. 

XIV. Study and Delivery of Selections .... 445 

Value of. Qualities of a good selection. How 
to study. Examples. 

XV. Gesture 468 

Instinctive and necessary. The impulse. 
Stages of training. Poise and freedom. Ex- 
ercises. Criteria. Kinds of gesture. 

XVI. Platform Manners 492 

XVII. Voice Training 497 

Qualities of a good voice. Exercises and se- 
lections. 

Index 513 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

With the call for public speakers from pulpit, bar, 
stump, and lecture platform remaining undiminished, 
and with the large additional call in these latter days 
from ever multiplying organizations, with their meetings, 
conventions and banquets, it comes about that there is 
to-day greater opportunity and demand for speech-mak- 
ing than ever before. The average man finds it greatly 
to his advantage in civic, organization and business af- 
fairs to be able to stand up and speak his mind; while 
any man who is known to have anything of interest to 
say, or who has in any way aroused favorable public at- 
tention, will be fairly dragged upon the platform. Thus 
it comes about that never before have so many untrained 
and ill-prepared men found themselves upon their legs 
facing audiences, — not unf requently to the regret of both 
parties. While many work out their own salvation, 
literally with fear and trembling, more have but scanty 
success. 

I shall not enter upon any praises of the art of public 
speaking. It is good and it is bad; it is base and it is 
noble. It is part of human life and it is what one makes 
it. My point is that it is important. I wish we might 
start with a sane, well-balanced view of this subject, 
which seems peculiarly unfortunate in the number of 

3 



4 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

half truths that gather about it. We need not deny that 
it is better to ''do noble deeds" than to talk about them, 
in order to recognize that often one must talk before he 
will be allowed to do; and especially that he must talk 
in order to induce others to do. 

We need not deny that public speaking was compara- 
tively more important in ancient than in modern times. 
The point is that it is still important to-day, and that 
apparently in this age of discussion and government by 
public opinion it is increasingly important. It would 
be easy to fill a book with expressions by men of affairs 
to the effect that ability to speak well is important to 
success. Earl Curzon, the former Viceroy of India, 
told ^ the students of Cambridge two years ago that 
''never was eloquence, i.e., the power of moving men by 
speech, more potent than now ; never was it more useful, 
or I may add, more admired as an accomplishment.'' 
The late Senator Hoar, long a leader in the United States 
Senate, declared in his old age : ^ 

' ' The longer I live, the more I have come to value the 
gift of eloquence. . . . Every American youth, if he de- 
sires for any purpose to get influence over his country- 
men in an honorable way, will seek to become a good 
public speaker." 

Eloquence and oratory are words which easily acquire 
bad meanings ; for the art of public speaking is readily 
prostituted to foolish or base uses. It is as easy to 
"emit chatter and futility" and to utter lies upon 
the platform as in conversation. When I use the word 
oratory, I shall use it in the sense assigned by Earl 
Curzon to eloquence, "the highest manifestation of the 
power of speech. ' ' It was used in its sinister meaning by 

1 Modern Parliamentary^ Eloquence, p. 4. 

2 Introduction to Vol. XI of Reed's Modern, Eloquence. 



INTRODUCTION 5 

Andrew D. White when he , said in a public address, 
** Nothing is so cheap as oratory.'' 

But that same gentleman, statesman, educator and 
Cornell's Grand Old Man, has had a different thought in 
mind when on several occasions he has invited groups of 
students to his home to urge them to improve themselves 
in public speaking. At such times he has said to them 
that while there is much regrettable speaking in this 
country, he holds it particularly important that young 
men of education and honor should train themselves 
to speak; for the ability to speak well will greatly in- 
crease their influence. And this is true not only in Amer- 
ica but in every country in Europe, unless it be Russia. 

Two motives for learning to speak well are suggested 
by the preceding: increasing one's chance to succeed 
and increasing one 's power to serve. In an age" of service 
and in an age when educated men are being recognized 
as leaders as never before, the more generous motive 
must appeal with force to young men. 

Educators are waking up to the value of this discipline. 
I shall cite only those best known to me. President 
Schurman has often spoken publicly of its value, pointing 
out that the decrease in the influence of the editorial 
writer has increased the importance of the speaker. 
And Dean Crane of Cornell, while Acting President in 
1912-13, used his influence to stimulate interest in speak- 
ing. He said in an interview granted the University's 
daily paper : 

''It is interesting to note the great revival of interest 
in public speaking all over the country at the present 
time. A man is not considered educated unless he can 
present his views clearly and forcibly. The importance 
of college training in this subject has been emphasized 
at more than one alumni banquet this year. ' ' 



6 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

To the assertion that the press has taken the place of 
the speaker, Senator Dolliver of Iowa replied : ^ 

' ^ There need be no fear that the spoken word will ever 
lose its power to influence the world. The newspaper 
will have no more potency in abolishing the political 
speech than the Tract Society will have in diminishing 
the importance of the preacher. It may change, and in 
fact already has changed, not only the taste of the audi- 
ence but the style of the orator. And the opinion is ven- 
tured here that in both cases the alteration has been for 
the better." 

There is no good in discussing the comparative impor- 
tance of press and platform when both are potent. The 
press has its important function ; but just so long as men 
are influenced by personality so long will the speaker, 
who employs this influence in the most direct way, have 
his place. Let me quote, not from an orator, but from 
one of the most thoughtful editorial pages in America : ^ 

' ' The strange notion that the day of the orator is gone 
by was again disproved at Saratoga. [The reference is 
to the struggle in the New York State Republican conven- 
tion in 1910.] We do not mean that there was much 
that could be called oratory, but it is plain that the com- 
pleteness of Roosevelt's triumph was due, in some meas- 
ure, to his ability to take the platform for a vigorous and 
homegoing statement of what he wanted to impress on 
the men before him, and no less to the absence of any one 
of opposing views who could do the same thing. Great 
orators, like Mr. Dooley's 'gre-a-at iditors,^ may be all 
dead; but that they would be without profession, and 
have to turn their energies to writing for the press, if 
they were to come back, is preposterous. ' ' 

But I must beware of alarming some with this talk of 
orators and oratory, of political affairs and great influ- 

1 Saturday Evening Post, May 25, 1901, p. 6. 

2 The New York Evening Post, October 1, 1910. 



INTRODUCTION 7 

eiice. While every year there come into my classes stu- 
dents who wish to become orators, there are also others 
who are much afraid that they may be tricked into 
oratory against their will. They need not fear. No one 
will be an orator until he has, added to skill, a message 
and an occasion. But with the real desires of these 
students I have full sympathy. In the first place, they 
do not wish to take up work in which they will be ex- 
pected to deliver bombastic clap-trap, which is their idea 
of oratory; and in the second place, they wish to learn 
how to speak effectively in a plain way in their business 
and professional affairs. The teachings of this text are 
as applicable to such simple speeches as to the grandest 
*' efforts." They will apply as well to getting a job, 
or persuading the town council to put in a sewage system, 
as to '^moving the listening thousands" to favor great 
reforms. 

That these students are right in their hope that ability 
to speak well will help them in their practical affairs is 
testified to by many. Justice Hughes, when he was one 
of the leaders of the New York bar, in a lecture before 
the Cornell College of Law urged the students to cultivate 
public speaking. That the trial lawyer needs this 
ability is patent ; but we are told that this is the day of 
the ^'office lawyer." An important member of the law 
department of one of our greatest railways, a strictly 
ofiice lawyer, tells me he is greatly hampered by his in- 
ability to make a speech, and that he could serve his 
company much better if he were able to represent it, 
particularly at dinners. But what of those men of deeds, 
the engineers? The dean of a certain college of civil 
engineering declares that if graduates in engineering 
could have thorough training in speaking, and some train- 
ing in law, they could take their places as presidents of 



8 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

all the corporations in the land. In the new generation, 
he holds, the engineer will cease to be the hired man and 
will take charge of affairs. A graduate of the same col- 
lege, a practising engineer, has established generous 
prizes to encourage engineering students to cultivate skill 
in speech. And in opening the contest last year, the 
dean of a college of mechanical engineering declared 
that the donor of the prizes had acted wisely in antici- 
pating the future ; and that the engineer must be able to 
carry conviction of the truth of his results, for otherwise 
great enterprises cannot be carried on. 

In a certain university the only students required to 
take a course in public speaking are those in architecture. 
The reason for this requirement is that the faculty con- 
cerned has been impressed with the failures of certain 
practitioners to secure acceptance for excellent plans, 
when presenting them before boards and committees. 

Mr. H. M. Waite, City Manager of Dayton, himself a civil 
engineer, writes : 

"I am delighted to hear that at last some of the universities are 
paying some attention to what I have felt for some time was of 
great importance ; that is, the teaching of engineers to express 
themselves.^ ... It is n't oratory that is necessary. It is simply 
that men in the engineering profession should have experience in 
presenting their propositions to people." 

But no class of men dwells more earnestly on the ability 
to speak well than that which describes itself as consist- 
ing of ''plain business men." ''It isn't oratory I 
want, ' ' such a man hastens to say, ' ' but just the ability 
to get up and say what I think when things are being 
discussed." And those who have had a little training 
will testify to its help in meeting and dealing with men 
in all sorts of relations ; for example, in dealing with their 
workmen, in selling goods, and in taking part in the 
affairs of their communities. Of course men do succeed 
in most vocations without the ability to make a speech. 



INTRODUCTION 9 

The just claim is that they find this ability a help in most 
callings and indispensable in some. 

Let those who shy at the thought of '' oratory/' or 
even ^' public speaking," forget those words and think 
in terms of attention. We shall find that that is the 
essential thing, attention and the right sort of attention, 
whether we are trying to tell people things, or get them 
to believe things or to do things ; whether we consider the 
case of the teacher, the preacher, the reformer, the solici- 
tor, the salesman, or any other who seeks to exert influ- 
ence. President Lowell has written,^ '^For any one who 
desires to advocate a new idea, the difficulty is not so 
much to convince as to get a hearing, not so much to be 
judged fairly as to be judged at all." And he dwells 
upon the need of advertising new ideas. Now public 
speaking is an important means of advertising, or draw- 
ing attention to ideas. We shall be more and more 
impressed with this truth as we proceed. 

But should speaking be studied ? To some, speaking is 
a wonderful art, requiring remarkable powers which must 
be the gift of nature. It is true that a liberal natural 
endowment is necessary to the great orator ; but I have 
met with few who could not by persistent effort become 
good speakers. There are others who think that speak- 
ing is too simple for study; as if a subject which is 
concerned at every point with human nature could be 
simple ! 

^*But is it not just a matter of practice?" some ask. 
Well, practice and experience are absolutely essential. 
Without practical experience, no textbook and no course 
of training is worth while. It is quite true that many 
have become good speakers, even orators, without such 
aids. All book and all school training, in whatever field 

1 Public Opinion and Popular Government^ p. 59. 



10 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

of endeavor, are subject to the same limitation. Gradu- 
ally the conviction has gained ground, however, that law- 
yers, physicians, engineers, and now farmers too, are 
better for the training of books and schools; or rather 
that they are best trained by a judicious combination of 
what the narrowly practical man is apt contemptuously to 
call " theory," and experience gained, at first, under 
skilled supervision. Particularly is it true that progress 
in any field depends upon the development of theory. 
Cabbages have been grown for centuries; and yet on a 
farm I visited the other day the farmer, by the applica- 
tion of the much despised theories of the schools, was 
producing ten tons of cabbages more to the acre than 
his neighbors. Now, if by study one can improve his 
methods of raising cabbages, why can he not by study 
improve the methods of planting and growing ideas? 

We study everything in these days ; even sport. It is 
quite true that a man may have a natural gait which will 
enable him to win a race over the best trained men ; but 
we should all have more confidence in the runner who has 
both natural ability and training. A runner may train 
himself, and to a great extent he must, as one must in 
speaking or anything else ; but he gets on faster and more 
surely with the help of one who has studied running and 
observed many in their development. The '^get-there'' 
stroke sometimes wins a boat race ; but those crews whose 
stroke is the product of long study of ease and efficiency, 
most often ' ' sweep the river. ' ' 

Many of those who have succeeded without aid will 
testify to the great advantage they might have gained 
by early training. Others please their vanity by culti- 
vating the myth that they have succeeded without effort. 
Henry Ward Beecher was an orator whose easy ways 
caused people to assume that he could not help being a 



INTRODUCTION 11 

great speaker ; but no man has testified more earnestly to 
the benefits of study and training for public speaking.^ 
His ease was the product of training. 

But what is to be learned? The following pages are 
the best answer I can give to this question. Briefly, 
a student of speaking can learn much about the choice 
of topics, about finding material, and about preparing 
his speech. He can learn much about ^ thinking on his 
feet''; about the action of his own mind; about the rela- 
tion of speaker to audience; and much, very much in- 
deed, about audiences, and how to adapt material for 
the purpose of interesting, informing, convincing and 
persuading them. And what he learns he must train 
himself to use. Many things stressed in this text any 
intelligent reader knows, in a sense ; but many an intelli- 
gent reader, nevertheless, needs to train himself long 
before he can realize in practice what he knows. In 
particular he must train his mental action on the plat- 
form, and he must develop his sense of an audience. Any 
intelligent man knows the purposes of speaking; but 
most find long experience necessary before they can 
actually relate themselves to an audience in the right 
way. That is in part a matter of self-control, and in 
part a matter of growing gradually to realize the nature 
of an audience. 

No attempt is made in these pages to reveal a royal 
road to eloquence. There is no way to make a good 
speech without having something to say worth saying. 
Attempts to ignore this truth bring public speaking into 
discredit. But we need not run away with another half 
truth and assert that the something to say is all that is 
necessary. Given something to say, desire to say it and 
a proper opportunity, a good speech has become possible. 

1 See his lecture on Oratory and his Yale Lectures on Preaching, 



12 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

But there is no need for arguing the pretty theory that 
nothing more is needed ; for we all know men who have 
much to say and try hard to say it, yet with the poorest 
of results. 

Besides having something to say, a speaker must be 
able to think; not only to think, but to say what he 
thinks; not only to say it, but to make others listen to 
it, understand it and feel the force of it. Some who can 
do all else, simply cannot deliver a speech. We wish 
they would write down what they have to say, and let 
us read it. To take a sane view of this subject we must 
take account of all that enters into the success of a speech, 
— the topic, the subject-matter, its formulation and its 
delivery ; and all this, though not all of it can be treated 
fully in one text, comes within the scope of this work. 

But what can be done in college classes? This is a 
question that is best answered by experience. It is a 
fact that students do learn to speak well in college classes, 
and learn to speak in such a way that they do not have to 
unlearn in practical life, but only to go on developing. 
It is quite true that a student in one of these classes may 
at times learn more in one evening of experience outside 
than in a month of work in the class. The soldier learns 
in his first battle what years of drill could not teach him. 
And yet the magnificent German fighting machine was 
trained without actual fighting to a high pitch of readi- 
ness. But do not suppose that the parallel is exact ; for 
the practice work of a class in public speaking can be 
made more real than any mock battle. If you are doubt- 
ful come to my class when it is discussing athletics, or 
women's suffrage, or the European war, with neutrality 
thrown to the winds. No mock skirmishes these, but 
war! 

I have kept in mind in writing this text the man who 



INTRODUCTION 13 

must ^'work out his own salvation/' without class in- 
struction. I believe that a person who has the intelli- 
gence to understand and apply the principles set forth, 
and w^ho has opportunity for actual practice, can succeed 
in becoming an effective speaker, — especially if he is so 
fortunate as to have a capable and candid friend to 
criticize him. Most of the suggestions of the text are 
directly applicable to work outside of classes; and the 
others can, in great part, easily be adapted. 

Nevertheless, I believe that there are advantages in 
class work. The ideal way is to have class work and out- 
side practice also. In class one has the advantage of 
making one's first efforts along with others in a similar 
situation, and this eases the embarrassment. Again, 
while failure always has a weakening effect, it is likely to 
be less disastrous in class than before other audiences. 
The student has also the stimulus of working with others 
who are trying to do the same thing. He has more op- 
portunity for speaking in a variety of ways and on a 
variety of topics than he is likely to have elsewhere. 

But perhaps the greatest advantage is that he can get 
honest, intelligent criticism by one who is trained to the 
work and who has had experience in watching the devel- 
opment of many other students. Competent criticism is 
extremely hard to get elsewhere. There are enough to 
condemn or ridicule us, and our friends are quick to tell 
us we do splendidly; but few will tell us the truth. 
There are few who are candid enough, and fewer still 
discriminating enough for that. The unskilful will usu- 
ally touch upon the incidental rather than the essential ; 
they will base their comments upon a very mechanical 
view of the subject, and they will usually criticize too 
much. The teacher, on the other hand, should be capa- 
ble, and it is to his self-interest to tell you the truth in 



14 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

oi'der that you do his work credit. When you do find 
anywhere a competent non-professional critic, '^grapple 
him to thy soul with hooks of steel." He is more 
likely to be found in one 's speaking class than elsewhere. 
The comments of student on student are not the least of 
the advantages of such a course. 

Among my treasures is this, written in the firm hand of Andrew 
D. White, in response to a request for a word to fraternity students 
about debating: 

"Let every student worthy of the name, — whether fraternity man 
or not — make the most of his university opportunities for debate 
and public speech. Such chances and such training he will not 
easily find again." 

I wish now to suggest another reason for studying 
public speaking which may not be so evident as those 
mentioned ; that is, that the study is, in every sense of the 
term, educational. Gain in practical efficiency is, of 
course, a part of education ; but this is not all. As has 
been suggested, to become a good speaker is to become to 
some degree a leader. It will be increasingly evident 
that the principles of public speaking are the principles 
of influence. To interest, to inform, to convince and to 
persuade, — these are the purposes of the speaker. Again, 
it is a truism that the leader must be a man of self-con- 
trol, and to gain power with audiences involves gaining 
self-control. It was Emerson who said, '^If I should 
make the shortest list of the qualifications of the orator, 
I should begin with manliness; and perhaps it means 
here, presence of mind." "We shall see very clearly in 
the next chapter the importance of presence of mind and 
self-possession ; and we shall realize increasingly in later 
chapters the necessity for command of thought and 
feeling. 

Education should also develop individuality, and en- 
able a man to stand out from the mass and on his own 



INTRODUCTION 15 

feet. A course in public speaking takes a student off the 
back seat, puts him up before his fellows and compels 
him to do something on his own responsibility, to express 
his own ideas and impress them upon others. 

But we may go further. William James has declared : ^ 
*^No reception without reaction, no impression without 
correlative expression, — this is the great maxim which 
the teacher ought never to forget." Yet in how much of 
our college work is there encouragement to reaction and 
expression on the part of students ? To sit on the small 
of one's back, to absorb a little from lectures and as- 
signed readings, to squeeze the mental sponge out on an 
examination paper — so dry that only a trifle of sediment 
is left, — this too often is education under the lecture sys- 
tem. It is a system worse even than the old textbook 
method which it has superseded ; for that did provide for 
some class discussion. I do not know that it would be 
wise for distinguished scholars who are also good lec- 
turers, to keep still while sophomores talk; but at any 
rate it is clear that our present methods make it highly 
desirable that there be some courses in which the student 
has opportunity for self-expression, in which he has an 
opportunity to formulate and express and thus clarify 
and develop his ideas. "We are told that the father of 
Woodrow Wilson ^^ believed that nobody had grasped a 
thought until he could put it quickly and definitely into 
words. This he did himself and this he taught his son 
to do.'' 

One recalls Brendel in Ibsen's Rosmersholm, All his life he has 
been intoxicating himself with what he believes very wonderful 
thoughts, which have taken shape in his mind in "poems, visions, 
pictures — in the rough'^ ; but he has refused to give them to the 
world, saying, "Why should I profane my own ideals?" At last 

1 Talks to Teachers, p. 33. 



16 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

stirred by the currents of the time, he resolves to '^sacrifice them 
on the altar of Emancipation." But, alas ! "Just as I am stand- 
ing ready," he explains later, "to pour forth the horn of plenty, 
I make the painful discovery that I am bankrupt. For five-and- 
tvrenty years I have sat like a miser on his double-locked treasure- 
chest. And then yesterday — v^hen I open it and v^ant to display 
the treasure — there 's none there !" 

Altogether, this study is as valuable a discipline and 
as cultural, as well adapted to developing and giving 
control of one's powers and to * ^freeing the soul from 
fear, ' ' as any study in the curriculum. 

To those who have an honest fear that this study may 
develop in them affectations, such as cause the objection 
of many sensible folk to the *' elocutionist, " let me say 
that all depends upon the way the subject is taken up. 
If it is studied as principally a matter of delivery, as a 
matter of tricks, of making fine birds with naught but 
fine feathers, the danger is very great. But if we study 
speaking strictly as a means to an end, as the means of 
influencing audiences, the danger is small. Strangely 
enough the end is often lost sight of in the study of the 
means. Frequently the audience is forgotten. But 
when the ends of speech are kept in mind, it is then safe 
to give due attention to any matter which affects those 
ends. 

It must be evident from the preceding that in this book 
we are to deal with practical public speaking. This is 
not a book on elocution, except as elocution is incidental 
to practical speaking ; and with parlor elocution we have 
no concern. It is not a work on oral reading, although 
portions of the book are applicable to that study. It 
discusses the principles and makes suggestions which 
should be helpful to one who wishes to present his own 
ideas in his own way, for the pnrpose of interesting, in- 



INTRODUCTION 17 

forming, convincing or persuading his hearers. In the 
sense that the public speaker may arise to the heights of 
eloquence which we call oratory, the book deals with that 
subject; but it is intended to help speakers in common- 
place as well as in extraordinary situations. It is not 
designed for the encouragement of ' ' college oratory, ' ' if 
we may use that term to describe a sort of speaking which 
is sometimes developed in colleges and which would be 
impossible elsewhere. 

Indeed, this book is not designed to encourage public 
speaking at all. Heaven forfend! I hope it will tend 
toward the suppression of much public speaking, — of bad 
public speaking, and most of it is bad. I have no desire 
to develop the ''gift of gab,'' or the fluency which many 
a beginner longs for, but which is rarely lacking after a 
little practice. Fluency is a grave danger. It tempts 
to utterance too frequent and too profuse. Mere fluency 
is as ineffectual as the flow of a hose without a nozzle ; it 
does not carry. A serious study of this subject should 
so increase one's respect for the power of speech and 
give one such a realization of the difficulty and the re- 
sponsibility of holding the attention for ten minutes or an 
hour of a hundred or a thousand people, that speaking 
will not be undertaken lightly, without something to say 
worth saying or without due preparation. 

As regards delivery, I hope the teaching here set forth 
will help in attaining a style at once simple and effective. 
It is based upon the belief that ^^ right speaking depends 
upon right thinking"; but this theory will amount to 
little unless we closely consider what right thinking 
means and how it may be attained. Those advocates of 
dogmatic rules and mechanical study of delivery who ridi- 
cule the claim that the all sufficient direction is ' ' Think," 



18 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

are justified, if we stop with that. We must improve our 
thinking and learn to think like speakers. 

This is not a book of thumb rules; for a subject so 
complicated, which deals with human nature so con- 
stantly, cannot safely be reduced to fixed rules. Half 
the time the rules will not apply ; and often they are mis- 
leading. ^ ^ It is better not to know so much than to know 
so much that isn't so." There is no escape from the 
necessity of being intelligent on the subject, from under- 
standing the principles which lie back of rules, and thus 
understanding their limitations and how to apply the 
suggestions made to new situations. One should know 
the principles, too, in order that his practical experience 
and his observation of other speakers may be as fruitful 
as possible. The man whose mind is fixed on a set of 
rules will fail to see the truth that experience reveals 
when it seems to escape his rules. 

Since I am writing for college students and others of 
equal understanding, I feel the more justified in avoiding 
dogmatic teaching and in attempting to develop in my 
readers a speaker's intelligence. Indeed, no other way 
is worthy of those for whom I write. The book is per- 
haps a sufficient answer to the naive freshman, who when 
he came to ask me about my course, exclaimed, *^Gee, I 
don't see how you can make that stuff hard!" But 
while there is no attempt made to dodge natural difficul- 
ties and offer '^public speaking made easy," neither is 
there an attempt to make the subject more difficult than 
an intelligent treatment makes necessary. That would 
be a sorry business indeed. Rather by careful illustra- 
tion I have tried to be as clear as possible. If at any 
point the reader thinks I have dwelt unnecessarily upon 
the obvious, I can only say that I have written con- 
stantly out of the memory of class-room struggles. 



INTRODUCTION 19 

We shall now proceed to a general consideration of delivery, not 
because it is of principal importance, but because the student 
should begin at once to deliver speeches, and he probably is more 
worried about delivery than about subject-matter ; and also because 
the discussion of delivery furnishes a good opportunity for estab- 
lishing a desirable view-point for the whole subject. 



CHAPTER II 

CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 

Imagine all memory of speech-making to be blotted 
out ; so that there is no person in the world who remem- 
bers that he has ever made a speech or heard a speech. 
Imagine, too, all speeches and all references to speeches 
in literature, to be blotted out; so that there is left no 
clue to this art. Is this the end of speech-making? 
Here comes a man who has seen a great race, or has been 
in a great battle, or is on fire with enthusiasm for a cause. 
He begins to talk with a friend he meets on the street ; 
others gather, twenty, fifty, a hundred. Interest grows 
intense ; he lifts his voice that all may hear. But the 
crowd wishes to hear and see the speaker better. ^^Get 
upon this cart ! ' ' they cry ; and he mounts the cart and 
goes on with his story or his plea. 

A private conversation has become a public speech; 
but under the circumstances imagined it is thought of 
only as a conversation, as an enlarged conversation. It 
does not seem abnormal, but quite the natural thing. 
When does the talker or converser become a speech- 
maker? When ten persons gather? Fifty? Or is it 
when he gets on the cart ? Is there any real change in 
the nature or the spirit of the act ? Is it not essentially 
the same throughout, a conversation adapted to the grow- 
ing number of his hearers as the talker proceeds ? There 
may be a change, of course, if he becomes self-conscious ; 
but assuming that interest in story or argument remains 
the dominant emotion, there is no essential change in 

20 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 21 

his speaking. It is probable that with the increasing 
importance of his position and the increasing tension of 
feeling that comes with numbers, he gradually modifies 
his tone and his diction, and permits himself to launch 
into a bolder strain and a wider range of ideas and feel- 
ings than in ordinary conversation ; but the change is in 
degree and not in kind. He is conversing with an audi- 
ence. 

Nor is the situation essentially different if, instead of 
our imagined case, our hero of field or forum is invited 
to speak before a society, and this time has notice before- 
hand, has prepared, and speaks in a prepared ro©m, 
with a chairman introducing him, his hearers arriving at 
a fixed time and sitting down in regular array. There 
are differences to be sure; but these differences do not 
change the nature of the act of speech. 

I wish you to see that public speaking is a perfectly 
normal act, which calls for no strange, artificial methods, 
but only for an extension and development of that most 
familiar act, conversation. If you grasp this idea you 
will be saved from much wasted effort. 

Public and private speech compared. Let us examine 
the more important differences which will occur to the 
reader of this chapter. First, it may be said, a public 
speaker talks more loudly than one in conversation. 
Well, a public speaker, just as a private speaker, 
should speak so as to be heard without strain. If you 
have occasion to speak to a person at the other end of 
a long table, you raise your voice. If you wish to speak 
across a noisy stream, you may have to shout. This 
would not be ordinary speaking to be sure, but it is still 
conversation and not at all abnormal. The difference 
.is altogether a vocal one. You speak loud enough to be 
heard. 



22 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Again, one is told, the public speaker does all the talk- 
ing; in conversation there is a give and take. These 
statements are misleading. There are many conversa- 
tions in which one party does all or nearly all the talk- 
ing. Because an old man talks continuously to a young 
man who listens respectfully, we do not say the old man 
is making a speech. Our imaginary speaker talked con- 
tinuously before he got on the cart, with but little re- 
sponse from his hearers. Nor is it true that the public 
speaker does all the talking. The audience applauds 
and thereby says, ^^We approve." It may hiss and 
thereby say, ^ ' We disapprove. ' ' Questions may be asked 
and encouragement shouted. But all these expressions 
are only audible signs of what is going on in any audi- 
ence whether quiet or not. His auditors are thinking 
answers to the speaker's questions, or asking him ques- 
tions, or assenting, or making objections; and the experi- 
enced speaker has learned to read less demonstrative, but 
no less certain signs of the thoughts and moods of his 
hearers. He can tell by attitude and facial expression 
whether the other party to this conversation is interested 
or bored, approves or disapproves, understands or is 
puzzled, and he amplifies a point or touches it lightly in 
accordance with what he sees. The story is told of how 
Rufus Choate reiterated the arguments and pleas of one 
of his jury addresses for three hours after eleven men 
were won, until he saw the stern face of the twelfth juror 
relax in sympathy. Many a passage of good oratorical 
prose can be turned into a dialogue by writing out the 
questions and objections that lie plainly between the 
lines. (See for example the selection from Curtis 's 
Public Duty of Educated Men, printed at the end of 
Chapter XIV.) The young speaker can do nothing bet- 
ter for himself than to fix firmly in mind that public 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 23 

speaking is a dialogue and to emphasize constantly the 
part of the audience, anticipating and watching for its 
response. 

A third difference is said to be that the public speaker 
prepares, while the converser speaks as things occur to 
him. It is true that a public speaker should prepare 
when there is opportunity; but he is none the less a 
public speaker because he is too indolent, or too busy, 
or is called upon too suddenly. Nor is a man less a con- 
verser because he prepares for a private conversation. 

Suppose a student is chairman of a committee formed for re- 
sistance to the abolition of cherished holidays. This student has 
an appointment with the President of the University for the pur- 
pose of presenting the views of the student body. He talks with 
his committee. One says, "This is a good argument to use." 
Another, ''That is not the way to put it ; this is the way to reach 
the President." After discussing the arguments, the chairman 
remembers that the President has promised him but ten minutes. 
He must cut out some arguments and find brief ways of presenting 
others ; and by the time of his appointment he knows just about 
what he intends to say and how he will say it. We will suppose 
that the President says very little, simply listens attentively with 
but an occasional question. V^e are assuming a wise student ; 
hence he does not take a loafing attitude or talk slang. He talks 
as directly and pointedly and in as good language as he can and 
stops on time. Has he made a speech or conversed? Conversed, 
of course; but he has sifted his ideas, adapted them to his hearer, 
and has not presumed upon his hearer's time. He has followed 
a method excellent for a public speaker. 

Suppose further, that at the end of the conversation the Presi- 
dent says, "Mr. Smith, I wish you would come to the faculty 
meeting to-morrow and say there what you have here." At fac- 
ulty meeting our chairman has fifty or a hundred hearers. He 
has to raise his voice a bit, he stands up, perhaps no questions are 
asked ; but if he has the good sense and self-control to talk to 
the faculty in the same spirit and largely in the same manner as 
when he spoke to the President alone, he will probably make an 
effective speech. 

If, on the other hand, he adopts a tone and manner strange to 
himself, but which he may consider as belonging to speech-making, 
he may easily be ridiculous. 



24 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

It is a matter of adaptation. If we are told that public 
speaking demands more dignity of manner or of lan- 
guage, the answer is already plain: All depends upon 
circumstances. Our student, though discussing the same 
subject, talks to a fellow student in a more free and easy 
way than to the President and he talks to the faculty in 
a manner different from that in which he addresses a 
meeting of the student body. In a similar way can be 
met other arguments made to prove that public speaking 
and private conversation are essentially different acts, 
and that therefore the former calls for essentially differ- 
ent methods. 

On the other hand, I do not maintain that public and 
private speech are ordinarily just alike. We usually 
have no difficulty in distinguishing conversation from 
speech-making. Conventional differences, such as that 
the public speaker usually stands before a considerable 
group to talk while the converser usually does not, make 
a distinction. Ordinarily, too, the public speaker does 
speak more loudly, does talk more continuously, does 
make more preparation, and especially he does have 
to deal with more minds. These and other differences 
may be important. They may make public speaking 
seem quite different from private speaking; but since 
there is practically nothing true of public speaking that 
may not be true at times of conversation and nothing 
true of conversation that may not be true of public speak- 
ing, we can hardly hold the differences essential. They 
are not essential to the problem of delivery, and particu- 
larly to the narrow phase of delivery we are about to 
consider, the delivery of sentences with correct emphasis, 
pause, pitch and inflection. Still, despite the essential 
identity of public and private speaking, it is misleading 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 25 

to say that one speaks to an audience just as to one per- 
son. 

A good deal of space has been given to this discussion, because this 
conception is fundamental to all our work, and experience justifies 
the elaboration. Perhaps there are few that would maintain that 
public speaking is something far removed from other speaking; but 
there are many who vaguely feel that there is a vast difference. As 
a consequence, they begin to speak in a strange tone, they adopt a 
manner stiff and pompous, they talk over the heads of their audi- 
ence, vociferating loudly ; or perhaps, they take a dull monotonous 
tone, lacking the lively communicative inflections of conversation. 
They may adopt a pompous diction in an abortive attempt to imi- 
tate Webster at his worst ; or, what is the strongest evidence of 
their perverted conception, they endeavor to speak by a marvelous 
system of rules, which tell them w^hen their voices should go up, 
when down, what words to emphasize, when to use guttural tones, 
when aspirate, and where to pause. 

Certain common misconceptions removed. Before pro- 
ceeding to our positive teaching on delivery it will be 
best to guard against certain misunderstandings which 
often arise. First, public-speaking, to be conversational 
in quality, need not sound like conversation, certainly 
not like ordinary conversation. Conventional differences 
may make it sound very different. However, conversa- 
tion has many different sounds. Much depends upon 
the hearer, the situation, the subject and the speaker. 

The same man in discussing the weather, politics, 
literature, religion, may have several different manners. 
He may be listless while speaking of your hobby, but 
while talking of his own impassioned. The diction of 
the commonest man tends to become elevated when he 
speaks of elevated subjects, even in private conversation. 
We should note, also, the possibility of getting a dis- 
torted conception of the style of a speaker like Webster 
because most of us read only isolated passages, and the 
lofty strain of an impassioned peroration may be very 



26 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

different from the body of the speech. Each part is 
fitted to its place. Nearly all have read Webster's apos- 
trophe to the flag at the conclusion of the Reply to Hayne ; 
few have read the four-hour address. Most school chil- 
dren have met with Webster's terrible description of the 
tortures of the murderer's mind, so far from ordinary 
discourse; but very few indeed have read the whole of 
that masterly address to the jury in the trial of the mur- 
derer of Captain Joseph White. Read all and you will 
understand the assertion of one of Webster's contem- 
poraries that Webster talked to the jury as if he were a 
thirteenth juror who had just stepped out in front in 
order to address them better. Again we must remem- 
ber that the conversational style of Webster, — of whom 
Carlyle wrote, ^^No man was ever so great as Daniel 
Webster looked," and who made the British laborer ex- 
claim, ''By Jove, there goes a king," — that the conversa- 
tion of such a man would not sound like that of more 
commonplace people. An acquaintance has told me that 
he was amazed by Roscoe Conkling's ability to pour out 
impromptu a lofty diction in the Senate or on the 
stump, until he knew Conkling personally and found 
that he never let down in his vocabulary. The grand 
style was his natural language. 

Secondly, do not suppose when you are urged to be 
conversational in public speech that you are expected to 
be less careful, or dignified, or strong, or eloquent, than 
you would be otherwise. There is nothing in this ad- 
vice to restrain us from the exercise of our highest pow- 
ers. Perhaps there is no better way to make the point 
than to quote what has been said of Wendell Phillips, 
the great anti-slavery orator. George William Curtis 
said of him, ''It was simple colloquy — a gentleman con- 
versing." Yet that there was no lack of power is evi- 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 27 

denced by the storms he stirred up. A Richmond news- 
paper, which detested his doctrine of abolition, said of 
him, ' ' He is an infernal machine set to music ! ' ' Thomas 
Wentworth Higginson said of Phillips : 

' ' The key-note of the oratory of Wendell Phillips lay 
in this: that it was essentially conversational — the con- 
versational raised to its highest power. Perhaps no 
orator ever spoke with so little apparent effort, or began 
so entirely on the plane of his average hearers. It was 
as if he simply repeated, in a little louder tone, what he 
had just been saying to some familiar friend at his elbow. 
. . . The colloquialism was never relaxed, but it was 
familiarity without loss of dignity. Then as the argu- 
ment went on, the voice grew deeper, the action more 
animated, and the sentences came in a long sonorous 
swell, still easy and graceful, but powerful as the soft 
stretching of a tiger's paw." 

To take an example from present day speakers, Maud Balling- 
ton Booth has said that in speaking *'she never was conscious of 
dropping a sense of conversation" ; yet she is a speaker of rare 
power. One of the greatest feats I have ever known was when 
Mrs. Booth held for two hours and a quarter the close attention 
of an audience at Cornell Univesity, an audience surfeited with 
lectures. True, her story of work in the prisons was fascinating ; 
but a touch of the forced, unnatural manner affected by some 
speakers would have sent us to boredom in half the time, nor 
could she have held us had there not been in her delivery real 
power. 

Please understand clearly that to have conversational 
quality in your public speech does not require a low 
tone, or a careless manner, or undignified English. So 
far as our present problem is concerned, use what manner 
seems good to you. Give your thoughts fitting garb ; to 
plain thoughts plain expression, to heightened thoughts 
heightened expression. What I am now urging is, that, 
whatever else you do, you should make your speech 
genuine communication. Do not look upon public speak- 



28 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

ing as a performance, but as a genuine dealing with 
men. 

Thirdly, and quite in line with the preceding, do not 
understand that I am advocating what is called sometimes 
''the conversational style." I advocate no style. The 
word suggests too strongly that all should speak in one 
manner, while we should stand for individuality. I 
urge only that our public speaking should be conversa- 
tional in its elements, and that each should develop and 
improve his own best conversation. It is not conversa- 
tional style but conversational quality that we want in 
our platform delivery. Do not understand that this is 
some new thing ; or that there are various kinds of good 
speaking and that speaking which has conversational 
quality is one of them. As we are using the term there 
is no good speaking that is not conversational ; and there 
never has been in any age whether grand or simple. 

It is true that Phillips is called the exemplar of the "conversa- 
tional style," and that it is frequently said that since his time 
American public speaking has been reformed until, as Goldwin 
Smith says in his Reminiscences, you will go far to hear an old- 
time "spread-eagle" speaker. Not only is the pomposity of former 
days passing; but the old formality also, and perhaps too much of 
the real dignity of earlier times, have disappeared along with the 
heavier private manners and speech of our fathers. Properly un- 
derstood as referring to the speaking of to-day as compared with 
that of fifty or a hundred years ago, the term conversational style 
is unobjectionable. But that is not what we are considering here. 
It will be best to avoid the term. 

A fourth common misconception remains to be dealt 
with: Since the first important thing for the beginner 
to do is to stand up and talk with his audience, some 
are quick to say, *^Just be natural." This advice is 
plausible but hardly helpful. "What does this phrase 
'^Be natural," constantly used to signify all that is good, 
mean ? The savage is nearer to nature than the civilized 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 29 

man; yet he is hardly a model. The child is more 
natural than the adult. As Henry Ward Beecher says, 
if nature were the ideal we should remain infants. It is 
natural to be bad as well as to be good. It is natural 
for some to stammer, for others to strut, for others to 
be afraid of audiences. Indeed, is it not natural for some 
to be affected ? At least affectation comes without effort. 
It is natural for many on the platform to be unnatural. 
The advocates of ''Be natural," as an all sufficient guide 
are quite as likely as any to strut and bellow. 

It is manifest that we are juggling with various mean- 
ings of the word natural. It may mean (1) in a state of 
nature, untrained; (2) unaffected, sincere, not artificial, 
or exaggerated; or (3) in accordance with nature's laws, 
normal. The word as generally used is too loose for our 
purpose. If it is good to be natural in the first sense, 
then all education must be wrong. We Vvish to develop 
nature and remove defects in speaking, as in all else. 
Too often the plea of naturalness is made as a defense 
for faults. If your mannerisms are objectionable to 
your hearers or decrease your effectiveness, they should 
be remedied if possible, whether ''natural" or acquired. 
Most of that which we call natural is merely acquired 
habit. 

Taking the second meaning of natural, we shall find 
that the plausible advice, "Be Natural/' is difficult of 
application by the beginner, and that it is indeed "nat- 
ural to be unnatural." JMost beginners feel embarrass- 
ment. Even old speakers suft'er and rarely face an audi- 
ence on an occasion of importance without a strong feel- 
ing of tension. At best the simple advice, "Be natural," 
is of but negative value, meaning for us. Don't con- 
sciously assume strange tones and manners. It will be 
best to avoid the phrase altogether, unless we define it 



so PUBLIC SPEAKING 

each time we use it. We shall be helped more in escaping 
embarrassment and attaining genuine naturalness, when 
we look further and find out how to be natural. The 
phrase may seem odd to you, but we need sometimes to 
learn how to be natural. We need now to learn how to 
act in accordance with nature and to develop habits that 
will hold us to the normal under the stress of the plat- 
form. Let us look more closely into the nature of con- 
versational speech, in order to learn what we have to 
develop and adapt to public delivery. 

Conversational delivery analyzed. Let us turn to a 
common experience. Why is it that a small boy in school 
reads ' ' See — the — Ahorse — on — the — ^hill ' ' without a trace 
of meaning in his tone, and yet five minutes later on the 
playgrounds shouts the same words to his playmates with 
perfect expression? And why is it that if the teacher 
insists that Johnnie read over his sentence and get its 
meaning before reading it aloud, he will read with far 
better expression? And why, if the teacher then asks 
him to stand facing his class and read or tell the story to 
them, does he read with really good expression? The 
reason for his first improvement is apparent : in his first 
reading all his mind is given to recognizing words as 
words. They are without content for him ; they bring no 
meaning, no picture to his mind. His expressionless 
voice is a true index of his impressionless mind ; or rather, 
to be strict, his high strained tone expresses truly the 
anxious strain of his attention to the symbols before him. 
When he grasps the meaning, expression comes into his 
voice. He not only understands, but if he has a marked 
success, he has more than bare understanding: the ob- 
jects and incidents of which he reads are present to his 
imagination. The horse is to him a real and significant 
object at the instant he speaks the words. He has ap- 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 31 

proached the conditions of his playground conversation. 
He is ''thinking on his feet"; he creates, or re-creates, 
the thought at the moment of delivery. 

But our small boy is still more successful in his read- 
ing when he is made to feel that he is reading or telling 
his story to his classmates. To throw the statement into 
a phrase we shall make much use of, Johnnie succeeds 
when he reads or speaks with a sense of communication. 
On the playground he has the most perfect expression of 
all, when with no thought of how he says things, he uses 
perfect tone, emphasis, and inflection. Still the advice, 
''Forget your delivery," will be of little aid to the em- 
barrassed beginner. We can forget only by turning our 
attention to something else. Forget embarrassment then 
by holding your mind to your subject-matter and your 
business with your audience. Hold firmly to the concep- 
tion that you are there to interest them, not in your 
speaking, but in your ideas; to convince or persuade 
them. Look for their response. Stand behind your 
speech, and embarrassment will disappear. As soon as 
you can carry out these injunctions, whatever your faults, 
you will be a speaker. 

What to do. To summarize, then, your delivery vdll 
have the desired conversational quality when you retain 
upon the platform these elements of the mental state of 
live conversation: 

1. Full realization of the content of your words as you 
utter them,^ and 

2. A lively sense of communication. 

1 It may be said that the first element is included in the second ; 
but it is doubtful if this is true in all cases. At any rate, both 
elements need stress. In practice much attention must be given 
the first ; and a great deal of what follows is intended to show how 
to develop full realization of content. This depends primarily upon 
mastery of subject-matter ; but beyond this is needed the well 
established habit of "thinking on one's feet." 



32 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

When the first element is lacking we may characterize 
the delivery as absent-minded; when the second is lack- 
ing we may describe the delivery as soliloquizing, not 
commnnicative, or indirect. 

These directions needed. Put so simply these direc- 
tions may strike some as needless. They may ask, ^'Do 
not all sensible speakers think as they speak, and do 
they not realize that they speak to communicate?" 
Many years of observation convince me that these nat- 
ural questions must be answered in the negative. The 
faults of absent-minded speaking and soliloquizing speak- 
ing are very common. Of course, there is usually some 
consciousness of the meaning, but not always. Mind 
you, no half grasp will do. Nor is it enough to grasp the 
bare meaning; the emotional content also must be real- 
ized. 

To fail of contact, to be indirect, is very common in- 
deed. Young speakers too often look upon public speak- 
ing as an exhibition; and older speakers frequently fall 
into a perfunctory manner, especially those who speak 
frequently and in a routine way. Moreover, many of 
those who do in a measure fulfil the conversational con- 
ditions, suffer from a wrong start. The man who begins 
his career as a speaker because he ^'has something to say 
which he wishes very much to say," and continues for 
the same reason until his habits are fixed, and who has 
no false notions of speaking, may come naturally to a 
genuine delivery. But if a speaker begins with the no- 
tion that he speaks to make an exhibition of his delivery, 
or that delivery is an external, mechanical thing to be 
manipulated according to rule, or in imitation of a 
model, he will probably develop a conventional tone and 
other bad habits that will resist the force of even a 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE S3 

strongly felt message and an eager audience. Unfortu- 
nately, most of us have made a wrong beginning with our 
reading and speaking, and have the habit of perfunctory 
delivery. We began to read with all our attention on 
pronunciation, and to ^' speak pieces" we did not under- 
stand, in order to make admiring aunts and jealous 
neighbors say : ' ' How splendid ! I heard every word ! ' ' 
when our delivery was really an abomination, — neither 
song nor speech. 

The conversational elements in reading. Perhaps it is 
more common to read than to speak absent-mindedly and 
indirectly. The minister, for example, reading hymn or 
scripture lesson, with his mind on his sermon, or on who 
has come to church, may proceed with but the vaguest 
consciousness of the meaning of what he reads and with 
no feeling that he is reading to answering minds. He 
may pronounce the words in a sonorous ministerial tone. 
And his congregation ? How rarely do they really listen ! 
If indifferent, they think of business or fashions; if 
devout, they piously feel it is all good and true and are 
affected by the sound regardless of sense, like the old 
lady who always wept when she heard ^'that blessed 
word, Mesopotamia!' ' In many churches there is a feel- 
ing that nothing really counts but the sermon, and there 
is a notable shifting and coming to attention when ser- 
mon time comes. In those churches where the reading is 
of chief importance, the members of the congregation get 
the meaning, so far as they do, by following the service 
in their individual books. And all this is but the natural 
result of the perfunctory reading that prevails. When a 
preacher takes the pains to study out the significance of 
what he reads, throws off the ministerial tune, and reads 
as one who has thought to convey, the congregation 



34 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

looks up with surprised interest and thinks, ''Why, 
really, what a remarkable chapter that is ! " 

What I have elaborated in regard to the reading of 
preachers is true generally of the reading of other speak- 
ers. Whenever a speaker in court or on the platform be- 
gins to read a quotation, the audience is likely to suspend 
listening until the speaker explains the meaning of what 
he has read. 

The conversational element in speaking from manu- 
script. The speaker with manuscript in hand is pecul- 
iarly tempted to repeat empty words, because it is so easy 
for him to do so. Nothing is easier than to recognize and 
pronounce words without any recognition of their con- 
tents. Yet speaking from manuscript need not be empty 
and monotonous. It may be lively and communicative, 
if the speaker exerts himself to think and keep in touch 
with his hearers. 

When speaking from memory. The reading speaker is 
not popular, but by no means all readers carry manu- 
script to the platform. The speaker who memorizes 
should succeed better than the speaker with manuscript ; 
for he can better keep in touch with his audience. As 
compared with the extemporaneous speaker, he is freed 
from the harassing necessity of choosing ideas and words 
from the many offering themselves, and from the neces- 
sity of determining order. He can, therefore, give all his 
mind to presenting his thought to his audience. Prob- 
ably, much as we admire the ability to speak extempore 
and necessary as it is to the well-equipped speaker, most 
of the great speeches have been delivered memoriter. 
But too often one who delivers a memorized speech really 
only reads, and reads badly, giving all his mind to re- 
calling the words. Sometimes he is reading from a man- 
uscript before his ''mind's eye"; or his "consciousness 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 35 

is empty of all but the sound and feel of the words. ' ' ^ 
This tendency to keep mere words uppermost, we must 
earnestly fight against. The method by which one mem- 
orizes is important and will be treated later; but the 
gist of the matter is : hold yourself to the thought first, 
last and all the time, and avoid the parrot-like repetition 
of words. 

Some hold that a speech committed to memory cannot 
be delivered mth spontaneity; but observation proves 
that this is not true. It has been said concerning the 
practice of George William Curtis, one of the best speak- 
ers of the last generation: ^^He practised that perfect 
memorization which has the virtues of extemporization 
without its faults." Higginson tells this story of Wen- 
dell Phillips : 

^ ' I remember that after his Phi Beta Kappa oration, in 
which he had so carried away a conservative and critical 
audience that they found themselves applauding tyranni- 
cide before they knew it, I said to him, ^This could not 
have been written out beforehand,' and he said, ^It is 
already in type at the Advertiser office.' I could not 
have believed it. " 

It is all a matter of re-creating the thought, and it is a 
poor thought that cannot be thought more than once. 
A man in earnest, let us say a senior canvassing for a 
class memorial fund, or a candidate for office, will con- 
verse spontaneously enough though he has prepared even 
his words and has repeated them in a dozen different 
conversations. The chronic story teller often finds his 
adventures growing in thrills as the years go by, if only 
he can find new listeners. 

1 "The difference between speaking sense and nonsense is this : in 
the latter ease,^ consciousness is empty of all but the sound and feel 
of the words ; in the former, the words are the expression of a con- 
scious situation, the discharge of an aggregate idea." Private letter 
from Professor E. B. Titchener, quoted hy permission. 



36 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Whitefield, one of the greatest of preachers, declared that he was 
at his best the fortieth time he delivered a sermon. The lecturers 
of the Lyceum and Chautauqua platforms may repeat their ad- 
dresses hundreds of times, and yet deliver them with freshness. 
Again, when weary or indifferent, the best of them, for example, 
Mr. Bryan, may give you as little sense of personal contact as a 
phonograph. The book agent who keeps his mind alert and is 
keen about his business will not remind you, as some poorer solici- 
tors do, that his talk was handed him by his company. 

When speaking extemporaneously. So indirect and 
monotonous is much of the speaking by the memorizing 
method, that it is widely condemned. The extempora- 
neous method is most popular of all. It has faults and 
virtues which may be discussed later; but here it is in 
order to point out that not even this method is free from 
the faults under consideration. We must all know by 
observation that it is quite as possible to make a speech 
without well controlled thinking, as it is to converse with- 
out ^'knowing what we are talking about." The extem- 
porizer 's mind is more likely to be active ; but under the 
stress of choosing and rejecting, he may fall into con- 
fusion. Any experienced speaker knows how possible it 
is to talk on without knowing at the end of a period what 
he has been saying. Extraneous thoughts come,— an en- 
gagement forgotten, the train to be caught, disturbances 
in the audience, — yet the speaker talks on, probably form- 
ing grammatical sentences, but rambling and *' marking 
time." Again, the effort of thinking out a point not 
thoroughly mastered before, or consideration of a point 
now first presenting itself, may throw him into a reflect- 
ive frame of mind; his thought loses the objective char- 
acter needed. As a result he breaks contact with his 
audience and soliloquizes. 

The extemporaneous speaker, therefore, needs quite as 
much as others, a firmly fixed habit of always holding 
his mind firmly to the matter in hand and of speaking 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 37 

directly to his audience. To fix this habit requires for 
most persons time and practice. The beginner has to 
develop his powers, as does the athlete, — powers which 
serve well enough for ordinary purposes, but not for 
extra strain. Until this habit is fixed and he has found 
himself as a speaker, the student should avoid all methods 
that tend to draw him away from the fundamentals. 

With special reference to directness. More speakers 
fail in the second conversational element than in the first. 
It is highly important that we understand the distinction 
between communicative and non-communicative, or direct 
and indirect, speaking, — a distinction more easy to feel 
than to put into words. We hear a speaker, perhaps we 
follow his thought, yet we do not feel he has business 
with us. If he asks questions, we do not feel provoked 
to reply even mentally. "We are not participators, but 
idle spectators. There is no challenge to our attention. 
"With another speaker we feel contact. It has been said ^ 
of Count Okuma, the Japanese statesman: ''It is easy 
to understand the delight with which he is always heard 
upon the platform. He is master of the art of being in- 
timate with his audience — which is the secret ... of the 
highest quality of public speaking. ' ' 

We may follow a speaker who lacks directness of de- 
livery, from sheer interest in the subject-matter, or from 
a sense of duty ; but our attention is not due to delivery. 
Such attention is wear^dng and can hardly be expected 
from the average audience. The thought may be worthy, 
the language fitting, the delivery may be otherwise good, 
— voice clear and pleasing and the modulation true ; and 
yet lacking the communicative element, the speaking does 
not reach or grip. It may be the speaker is thinking 
intently, but as he lacks touch with his audience, his 

iHamnton Wright Mabie in the Outlook, June 14, 1913, p. 331. 



SS PUBLIC SPEAKING 

speech is only soliloquy. We say of another speaker, 
''He talks over our heads" ; and this points to more than 
the character of thought or vocabulary. The speaker 
may literally talk and look over our heads ; or, though his 
eyes are turned toward us, he may be practically uncon- 
scious of our presence. Some advance from soliloquy to 
monologue and talk at us, or thunder at us. 

But true speech is a dialogue ; better even than talking 
to us is talking with us. It is conversation with an audi- 
ence. The audience is conceived of by the speaker as 
responding, asking questions, approving and disapprov- 
ing. He dwells on an idea till he is sure of the response. 
He never follows his own train of thought to the ignor- 
ing of the thoughts of his hearers. This conception 
brings into the speaker's voice the tone we call direct or 
communicative. 

We should make sure, in our efforts to be direct, that 
this tone springs from mental attitude, from a felt con- 
tact with our hearers ; for it, no more than other tones, 
should be assumed as a trick of delivery. The attempt 
to put on directness is likely to result in an over-familiar, 
confidential, or wheedling tone which is most objection- 
able. 

It takes courage and self-control to speak straight to an 
audience. This is not because of embarrassment merely, 
but because of the necessity of commanding and direct- 
ing the thoughts of many. There are times when the 
speaker feels that it is his will against the combined wills 
of his hearers. The point was well put by a former 
student who, from being a rather weak speaker in college, 
developed a direct and effective style while preaching to 
western cowboys : * ' I tell you, when your congregation 
may jump out of a window or dance in the aisle if you 
lose control, you have to grip them!'' If the speaker 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 39 

weakens and retires within himself, he quickly loses con- 
trol and a restless inattention ensues almost as distressing 
as these **wild and woolly" extremes. Said President 
Stryker of Hamilton College, at his best an orator of 
great power, ^ ' It is four-fifths will power. ' ' 

We should emphasize in connection with directness, 
the effect of the eye, which is quite as important as the 
voice in maintaining contact. The speaker should look 
at his hearers squarely. No dodging will do ; no looking 
just over their heads, or down the aisle, or at a friendly 
post. The speaker who meets the eyes of his hearers will 
rarely see their eyes turn away from him and he will 
rarely lose contact. But the temptation is often strong 
upon the young speaker to turn away ; not merely because 
of nervousness, but also because the necessity of think- 
ing tempts him to drop his eyes to the floor, or raise them 
to the ceiling. But the time for meditation has passed ; 
his facts, arguments and conclusions should be clearly 
arranged in his mind. His thinking now should be of 
that objective sort that is best stimulated by contact with 
his audience. Of course a speaker who has no opportu- 
nity to prepare, may be pardoned if he fails to observe 
this rule, and those wiio speak from notes cannot ; but the 
loss of force is easily noted. 

While a speaker should avoid a constantly shifting gaze, 
he should neglect no part of his audience. The part 
directly in front should receive most attention. Llany 
speakers develop a bad habit of addressing one side of an 
audience nearly all the time, with but glances at the other. 
The neglected side soon grows restless. Do not let an 
habitual posture cause you to neglect any part of your 
audience. Make all feel that you are talking with them. 
''I wonder," said a freshman, ''why Prexy preaches all 
his sermons at me. " ' ' Why, ' ' replied his friend who sat 



40 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

on the other side of the chapel, ^^I thought Prex. aimed 
them, all at me ! ' ' It must not be inferred from the above 
that a speaker should stride forward with a fierce gaze 
and an ''I-am-going-to-make-you-listen'' air. It must be 
strength with ease, and self-confidence with respect for 
others, — ^ ' a gentleman conversing. ' ' 

Restraint and half -directness, Many beginners speak 
in a half -direct way. They are not entirely lacking in 
the sense of communication ; but they do not come out of 
themselves and vigorously take command of their hearers ' 
attention. Sometimesi they defend themselves against 
criticism by declaring that they do not like noisy, de- 
monstrative speaking, thus showing that they mistake the 
critic 's point. It is true that one may be effective with- 
out noisiness. There is a quiet directness which is highly 
effective; but we should not, as some do, make mere 
quietness an end in itself. A quiet delivery which fails 
to hold attention is certainly not desirable. We wish al- 
ways to have our words listened to and accepted, and 
usually there is needed a display of frank earnestness. 
Quiet force is good ; but be sure there is force, not indif- 
ference. Self-restraint is not the same as self-control; 
freedom is consistent with dignity. 

The beginner, moreover, is rarely able to command the 
quieter force. He gets on much faster if he throws off 
restraint. To this end, I urge in particular that he 
should indulge in great freedom of action (quite regard- 
less of whether he makes good gestures or not) ; for 
w^ithout free action most never arrive at genuine direct- 
ness. As a result of dropping restraint, the beginner 
may speak with needless loudness and exaggerated ac- 
tion ; but if he will keep trying to communicate and im- 
press his ideas, he will soon acquire the feeling of direct 
speech with an audience, and will find that he can pre- 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 41 

serve this as lie tones down to a more composed man- 
ner. 

We may well note at this point that this quality of communica- 
tiveness is not merely a matter of delivery. Much depends upon 
composition, upon how the ideas are put into words, and very much 
upon the character of the ideas themselves. This last will grow 
clearer before we reach the final chapter. 

Conversational delivery not necessarily good. There is 
a strong tendency to assume at this point that when a 
speaker has succeeded in reproducing conversational 
mental conditions upon the platform, then his deliv- 
ery will be perfect, or ^^good enough"; and likewise a 
tendency, when asked to explain conversational public 
speaking, to ascribe to it all the virtues a speaker may 
possess. But it is obvious that if one's conversation has 
defects, his enlarged conversation may have these de- 
fects enlarged. Faulty pronunciation, indistinct enunci- 
ation, nasal or provincial twang, throaty tones, lack of 
range or of agility of voice, are but examples of faults 
that may be transferred to the platform. A rational 
study of technique may be beneficial, after the first suc- 
cess is won. A rational study of technique requires that 
the student shall never look upon technical matters as of 
first importance, though they are often very important 
indeed. It is due in part to over-emphasis of technique 
that the elocutionist often falls under the condemnation 
of sensible folk. One reason for insisting that the class 
of faults mentioned in this paragraph should be at- 
tended to after rather than before conversational condi- 
tions are secured, is that we are prone to feel that the 
part of a subject which we take up first is the most 
fundamental. It would seem that many never get be- 
yond the conception that public speaking is entirely a 
matter of the manipulation of voice and gesture. 



42 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

We were speaking in the last paragraph of faults of 
delivery. There are of course many other reasons why a 
speaker whose delivery is thoroughly conversational, may 
^y yet be a poor speaker. He may have a weak vocabu- 
larly, or careless habits of thought and composition; he 
may lack information and ideas, or understanding of 
audiences; he may be deficient in imagination, earnest- 
ness and strength; he may have an unpleasant person- 
ality. 

It should be pointed out, however, that many of these 
faults tend to disappear when public speaking is thought 
of as a larger conversation. For example, one earnestly 
reaching out for the understanding of one's audience, 
will make more effort to be distinct than in ordinary con- 
versation ; and often effort is all that is needed. Nervous- 
ness may cause a speaker to use his voice badly; but it 
is clear that he is less liable to this fault when he looks 
upon public speech as a larger conversation, calling for 
a normal use of his voice, than if he assumes strange 
tones. If our young speaker talks too rapidly, — and no 
fault is more common with beginners, — a direct attempt 
on his part to slow down often results in increase rather 
than decrease of rate. But if a speaker holds himself to 
a full realization of the content of his words, he will pause 
much of necessity ; and if he is earnestly striving to talk 
with his audience, he will soon realize that an audience 
cannot be carried so rapidly as one listener. Deliberation 
will be the natural result. Again, if a speaker comes 
into intimate contact with his hearers, he is more likely 
to observe what manner of persons they are and adapt 
his message to their understanding, beliefs and feelings. 

How the student should begin. We shall proceed to 
more definite suggestions; but we have already enough 
for a practical beginning. The first thing the beginner 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 43 

has to do is to gain the power to stand up and talk with 
an audience. Many will not find this easy, some because 
of embarrassment and some because of bad habits already 
established. In any case the effort should be to accentu- 
ate the mental conditions of conversation. In the meas- 
ure in which the student succeeds in doing this he will 
succeed in expressing his ideas with true emphasis, in- 
flection, etc. (The doctrine of this chapter goes much 
further than delivery in this narrow sense, but we shall 
limit ourselves to this here.) If at first he does not 
succeed, he must keep on trying. The chief remedy for 
failure to express is more thinking, a firmer, more com- 
plete grasp of the ideas and more effort to talk with his 
hearers. He must not let mere words fill his mind. 
"Words he must have, but they must remain subordinate 
to the thought. He must establish the habit of speak- 
ing no phrase until its meaning is distinct in his mind. 
And, as will become clear in the following chapters, the 
thinking indicated in this chapter is not a mere dry, cold 
process, but is to be taken broadly as including imagi- 
nation and feeling. To carry out these suggestions, 
the student should at once prepare simple speeches and 
deliver them to whatever audiences are available. 

Much practice needed. Mental habits need forming 
and reforming. Long practice may be needed, too, be- 
fore the expression, though correct, will be adequate. 
We often wish to express a wider range of thoughts and 
feelings on the platform than in conversation. This 
fact makes necessary the development of the power of 
expression. To this end we need not practise on a ^ ^ set " 
of tones, such as ^4ow aspirate oratund" and ''high, 
pure, aspirate, fast"; but we may wisely practise ex- 
pressing a large variety of ideas and sentiments, using 
both our own productions and those of others which we 



44 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

have assimilated. In such practice we should always 
seek the right expression by means of a firm grasp of con- 
tent and the effort to communicate directly to auditors, 
real or imaginary. (An imagined audience is very 
patient and helpful for practice purposes.) As a result, 
we shall find the response of voice to mind growing more 
prompt, certain and satisfying. And since, on the other 
hand, the effort to express develops that which we seek 
to express, we shall find in such practice that harmoni- 
ous development of thought, feeling and voice which is 
the truest vocal training. 

The place of voice training'. To this may be added 
the physical training of breathing and other exercises 
for strengthening, purifying and freeing the voice. Any 
exercises for bettering the response of voice and muscle 
to the action of the mind may be welcomed ; provided al- 
ways that we never confuse ourselves with the notion 
that somehow these means are public speaking, that we do 
not think of such means at all when speaking, and never 
try to substitute them for thinking. Exercises should be 
employed strictly as exercises; and it is best that they 
should be kept back until the beginner has gained the 
power to maintain conversational conditions upon the 
platform, through actual practice in addressing the class 
or some other audience. 

For further treatment of voice training, see Chapter XVII. 

Do not be mechanical. If you have understood the 
foregoing, you will see that there is no place in our 
scheme for the mechanical stressing of words, pausing 
and the like. If you have made a practice of consciously 
fixing emphasis, pause and inflection, abandon the prac- 
tice. It is unnecessary and it will hinder you in ac- 
quiring the right mental attitude. If there is any time 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 45 

for that practice at all, it is not at this stage. It is un- 
necessary for reasons already stated. The voice reflects 
the mind with remarkable fidelity. ^'Expression/' says 
Cicero, ^'is always perfect." A clear thought is clear in 
expression, and a hazy thought is hazy in expression. 
Our voices respond promptly and instinctively to our 
changing thoughts, feelings and moods, and to the vary- 
ing situations in which we find ourselves. As a rule we 
take no thought of emphasis, pause, inflection and tone ; 
yet the expression comes true. When we do take thought 
of it, it is most often not to express ourselves better, but 
to conceal indifference, eagerness, dislike, fear, or other 
mood. Wrong emphasis is due to failure at the moment 
to discriminate values ; wrong pausing is due to failure to 
distinguish the units of thought; the wrong tone is 
prompted by the wrong feeling. The remedy is com- 
plete thinking and sincere feeling. The voice ordinarily 
responds without conscious direction because this is one 
of the earliest reactions fixed in the nervous system. 
Why should not this response be as true in public as in 
private speech, provided we can maintain upon the plat- 
form conversational mental conditions ? 

Mechanical methods of expression have been reduced 
to rules, which I refer to only because many readers of 
these pages may have had experience with them. For 
example, a rule states that a conditional clause should 
end with a rising inflection. In speaking the sentence, 
^'If I go down town, I will do your errand," the voice 
should rise at town. We may admit that this is usually 
true, yet insist that the rule is both unnecessary and a 
positive evil. Both points are vigorously put by Nathan 
Shepard : ^ 

1 Before an Audience^ p. 69. 



46 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

^^ Another of the rules of the elocutionist is: * Pause 
before and after the emphatic word, and put a circum- 
flex upon it. ' 

^^ Where did you get this rule? From conversation. 
Finding that we do this naturally, let us do it mechanic- 
ally. We do it by instinct in private talking, let us do it 
by rule in public speaking. Finding that while eating, 
every time your elbow bends your mouth flies open, 
therefore this rule : When your elbow bends, open your 
mouth. ... If you deprive the speaker of his pauses 
and emphasis and inflections, what is left for his brains ? ' ' 

The last sentence touches the greatest evil in all me- 
chanical methods : They check thinking. If we fix the 
precise manner in which a sentence shall be delivered 
and then, as is usually done, drill this delivery till there is 
no danger thaj the vocal organs will perform otherwise 
than in the manner prescribed, what indeed is there left 
for the speaker's brains ? This easy substitute for think- 
ing is usually relied upon ; and this is the more true be- 
cause the student of mechanical training rarely conceives 
of speaking as other than a matter of making his voice 
and hands go right. He manipulates his voice as an 
organist manipulates his instrument, and when he 
changes his tones for this or that emotion, you almost 
see him pushing and pulling the stops. But instru- 
mental music is an artifical matter, while the response of 
voice and gesture to thought and feeling is a matter 
of the deepest instincts of our nature, and mechanical 
methods, which are a necessity to the musician, are a 
positive hindrance to the speaker. Besides, the rules are 
only half true; they conventionalize speech; and they 
are cumbersome and needless. The agents of expression 
will respond to right mental action ; let us therefore at- 
tend to the thinking. If at first the unfamiliar condi- 
tions of the platform may interfere, the remedy is not 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 47 

an arbitrary substitute for thought, but more thinking 
and truer feeling. 

One particularly bad form of the mechanical method is 
that which marks on the speaker's manuscript the pauses, 
inflections, tones, gestures and emphatic words. Follow- 
ing out such a scheme takes the mind off the meaning of 
the words, puts attention upon a mechanism, interferes 
with the sense of communication, and in general has all 
the faults of mechanical method in the most definite form. 

Do not imitate. Mechanical methods do call for some 
study on the part of the student; but the method of 
learning delivery by imitation of another lacks even this 
redeeming feature. It relieves from all necessity for 
thinking, and trains to absent-minded delivery. More- 
over, when a student has delivered one speech by imita- 
tion, he is helpless when he attempts another. But worst 
of all is the suppression of his own individuality. 

Fight against it as we may, there is nothing better for 
any one of us than his own individuality, developed and 
improved. David cannot fight in Saul 's armor, nor is the 
ass a success in the lion 's skin. It is the fate of the imi- 
tator to copy the mannerism and miss the spirit. The 
result is caricature. AA^hat Schopenhauer says of style 
in writing can be applied to delivery : ' ' Style is the phy- 
siognomy of the mind, and a safer index to character than 
the face. To imitate another man's style is like wear- 
ing a mask, which, be it never so fine, is not long in arous- 
ing disgust and abhorrence, because it is lifeless ; so that 
even the ugliest face is better. ' ' In the words of Wack- 
ernagel, ^^ Style is no lifeless mask laid upon the sub- 
stance of thought; it is the living play of countenance, 
produced by the expressive soul within. ' ' These brilliant 
statements of Buff on 's thought, '^ Style is the man him- 
self, ' ' are more true of delivery than of composition ; be- 



48 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

cause delivery is a more instinctive and intimate ex- 
pression of personality than printed words. 

In condemning conscious imitation as a method of learning to 
speak in public, I do not overlook the fact that we learn to talk 
in the first place largely by unconscious imitation and that imita- 
tion is a large factor in education. It may be admitted that in 
treating some special minor faults, imitation may be valuable as 
a last resort. It is the easiest of all methods for the teacher, and 
may be justified sometimes when quick formal results are neces- 
sary. There are some who are slow in responding to other meth- 
ods. But all this does not alter the fact that imitation is the 
poorest of methods and disappointing in the long run ; for it does 
not ordinarily set the student on a course of normal development. 
And for those mentally able to **run alone," it is well-nigh dis- 
graceful. No man with proper self-respect will be content to fol- 
low, as his principal method, imitation, even of the best; and, in 
the nature of things, the imitator must usually imitate the medi- 
ocre. 

I recognize the fact that students have learned to speak well by 
all sorts of methods and by no method. But as there are ways and 
ways, I have tried to show you the way which after eighteen years 
of experience as a teacher, I believe promises the least waste of 
effort and the surest arrival. Nevertheless, the way is not an easy 
one ; Think is its *'open-sesame" ; and while we teachers can lead 
you to the platform we cannot make you think. 

Looking forward. We carry forward from this chapter 
an understanding of the general problem of delivery; 
but we have as yet comparatively little to aid us in carry- 
ing out the suggestion, ^' Think as you speak." It is 
quite possible for us to think that we think very hard and 
yet succeed only in deeply furrowing our brows. We 
must make not only an effort, but an intelligent effort. 
To this end we shall study in the following chapters how 
our minds work and the nature of audiences. We shall 
consider most of the speaker's problems, of which de- 
livery is but one ; and we shall find that thinking on our 
feet is a relatively easy matter when thinking in prepa- 
ration has been of the right sort, and that we are greatly 



CONVERSING WITH AN AUDIENCE 49 

helped in talking with our hearers when we understand 
the needs and nature of audiences and come before them 
with definite purposes and speeches adapted to their 
interests. 

Note to Teachers. — In the final chapters we shall consider 
^'thinking on one's feet" in a rather detailed way, venturing as far 
into the technique of delivery as I deem it wise to go with a class 
in practical public speaking, at least on paper. Other teachers 
may find good reasons for differing with me. 

Teachers will differ, also, with regard to the time of introducing 
the work of Chapters XIII-XVII. I have found it good practice 
to introduce Chapter XIII as soon as my class has digested Chap- 
ter II and has acquired some experience in outlining and speaking. 



CHAPTER III 

PRINCIPLES OF ATTENTION 

Many of the problems of public speaking, plainly 
enough, are related to attention. In the first place, 
it is evident that the primary aim of a speaker is to hold 
the attention of his audience. Secondly, as we consid- 
ered in the preceding chapter, one of the essentials of 
good speaking is *^ thinking at the instant of delivery." 
And, thirdly, as in all studies, we need power of atten- 
tion in the preparation of speeches. Throughout this 
subject, then, we shall need knowledge of the principles 
of attention. 

Both clearness and vividness needed. That clearness 
of thought is necessary is plain ; for attention cannot be 
sustained upon confused ideas. In nine cases out of ten, 
when a speaker goes to pieces, the reason lies in lack of 
clarity of thinking, particularly in lack of clear tran- 
sitions. The audience will soon give up the attempt 
to follow confused discourse. But more than cold clear- 
ness is needed ; our ideas should have a vividness that com- 
mands attention.^ This truth needs emphasis as applied 
to the speaker himself. ^ ' The one prime requisite, ' ' says 
Professor Titchener,^ ' ^ is self -f orgetf ulness, absorption in 
the subject for its own sake, — such f orgetf ulness as shall 
leave one as unconcerned before an audience as in one's 
study. ... I know of no golden rule, still less of any 

1 1 am glad to leani that a distinction found useful by a teacher 
of public speaking, is sustained by so good an authority as De- 
Garmo. Interest and Education, p. 144. 

2 From a private letter, quoted by permission. 

50 



-/s 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTENTION 51' 

♦ 

royal road. Inaccuracy, carelessness, half-devotion, — 
these are the bane of our students ; once a man is earnest 
enough to forget himself, to be ready to laugh at himself 
with the audience without losing his head, to forget 
how he looks and feels, he is successful and persuasive 
wdth or without technical knowledge and practice ; though 
of course these things are assets, if he has them. ' ' What 
the speaker needs, then, is such preparation that his ideas 
will command his attention, and awaken him to energetic 
thinking and earnestness. 

What makes an idea strong in the battle for attention ? 
At any moment there are innumerable ideas and sen- 
sations struggling to get into the focus of your attention. 
The strongest — that is, the strongest at the moment — 
w^ns. To understand how and w^hy ideas gain strength 
to command, we need to know more of the nature of 
attention. 

The forms of attention. Although there is but one 
attention, it may be considered in three aspects. When 
we attend to an object wdthout conscious effort, our at- 
tention is said to be involuntary, or passive, or primary, 
— there being no generally accepted term. When we 
make an effort to attend, our attention is said to be volun- 
tary, or active, or secondary. We shall use the terms 
primary and secondary, 

^^' There are some things that we must attend to, 
whether we will or no. . . . Such are loud sounds and 
brilliant lights; things that move amidst unmoving sur- 
roundings; things that for some reason contrast with 
their surroundings." This is the primary attention, so 
called because it is the attention we have first as infants, 
the kind we have in common with animals. 

1 The quotations are from Titchener's Primer of Psychology, pp. 
76-80, but the terms adopted are from his later Textbook of 
Psychology, 



52 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

' ' Sometimes, on the other hand, we seem to be holding 
our mind upon an object by main force. . . . Thus we 
may listen intently to a very faint sound, a sound that 
under ordinary circumstances would have no power what- 
ever to attract the attention ; or we may note the minute 
differences between two shells or two plants, finding dis- 
tinctions where the ordinary uninterested observer would 
find nothing but similarity." This is called secondary 
attention. It develops from primary attention as a re- 
sult of training; and it always involves effort. ^^The 
list of things we must attend to is not very long. And 
things not in the list cannot, of course, attract the atten- 
tion so forcibly. Hence attention to them is . . . atten- 
tion under difiiculties, attention with several claimants 
upon consciousness. The strongest idea wins." 

This secondary or active attention, however, may pass 
over into primary, or passive. '^The man of science 
who is comparing shells or plants may become so ob- 
sorbed in his work that he forgets his dinner or misses 
an appointment ; his mind is held as firmly by his work 
as it could be by a loud sound or a movement. In such 
a case, an object which has no right of its own to engross 
consciousness has gained this right in course of time and 
practice. At first attended to actively, with an effort, 
and barely able to hold its own against distracting ideas, 
it now absorbs the full measure of attention ; the student 
is buried or sunk in his task. ' ' This attention, since it is 
like primary attention in being without conscious effort, 
is called derived primary. 

Now, while the power to hold one's attention true is 
one of the characteristics of the developed mind, while 
^'active attention is the battle which must be won by 
those who mean to master their surroundings and rise 
to man's full height above the animal world," and cer- 
tainly is highly important to the public speaker; never- 
theless, it is easily seen that the less the effort involved 
in attending to a given idea the better, for the power 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTENTION 53 

of attention will be less quickly exhausted. ^'Active at- 
tention appears as a stage of waste." 

Importance of derived primary attention to the speaker. 
The speaker utilizes the primary attention of his hearers ; 
that is, he uses change, movement, etc. : but it is evident 
that he wishes them to attend to things and ideas which 
cannot command their primary attention ; and, also, that 
he does not wish them to listen with more effort than is 
necessary, lest they soon weary. Again, notice especially 
that the speaker himself should be freed from the waste 
of active attention, so that amid the distractions of the 
platform, his mind may be held to its complex task with 
the least possible effort ; that is, that his ideas should be so 
developed as to hold his derived primary attention, or at 
least, that they should approach that stage. 

Training will develop primary attention to a given sub- 
ject. After you have specialized in a subject for a time, 
like the man of science with his shells, you find that the 
subject draws you almost irresistibly. You try to at- 
tend to some other topic and the thought of your hobby 
draws you away. And nearly everything you see, hear, 
or any way experience, suggests that hobby to you and 
leads you back, in spite of your best intentions, to what- 
ever is, for the time being, your special interest. This 
may be your life study or vocation ; or it may be of lesser 
importance to you, your avocation ; or it may be a merely 
temporary interest. 

Attention and interest. First, in considering how to 
develop attention, we note that attention and interest go^ 
together. ^'What-we-attend-to and what-interests-us are 
synonymous terms," says James.^ Interest and atten- 
tion are related as cause and effect, and either may be the 

'^Psychology: Briefer Course, p. 448. 



54 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

cause of the other. It is plain enough that we attend to 
what interests us ; but this restates rather than solves our 
problem. We shall make more progress by considering 
the correlative truth, * ' Things are interesting because we 
attend to them. ' ' ^ This is true because — 

Interest grows with knowledge. ' ' Interest grows with 
knowledge, and, in fact, is made by knowledge."^ 
''One's permanent interests, one's tendencies to attend," 
says Thorndike,^ ''are largely dependent upon what one 
has, on one 's permanent store of knowledge. Ordinarily 
if one fills his mind with a subject he will become inter- 
ested and attend to it. ' ' This suggests that one may have 
to force attention to a subject until knowledge is ac- 
quired. 

The great scientist and teacher, Agassiz, handed a new student 
a fish to study and report upon. Next day the student came back 
with his task finished. The master sent him back for another day, 
and then for another. The student became peevish ; but soon with 
increasing knowledge he became interested, and he studied the fish 
for weeks with growing enthusiasm. 

Derived interest. We are now ready for the principle 
which lies back of the truth that interest grows with 
knowledge. Derived interest is explained in a classic 
statement in James's Talks to Teachers, which can read- 
ily be adapted to our problem : 

"Any object not interesting in itself may become in- 
teresting through being associated with an object in which 
an interest already exists. The two associated objects 
grow, as it were, together; the interesting portion sheds 
its interest over the whole ; and thus things not interest- 
ing in their own right borrow an interest which becomes 
as real and as strong as that of any natively interesting 
thing. 

"... There emerges a very simple abstract program 

1 Pillsbury, Attention, p. 55. 3 Human Nature Cluly p. 73. 

2 Idem, p. 54. 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTENTION 55 

for the teacher to follow in keeping the attention of the 
child : Begin with the line of his native interests, and 
offer him objects that have some immediate connection 
with these. 

*'Next, step by step, connect with these first objects 
and experiences the later objects and ideas which you 
wish to instill. Associate the new with the old in some 
natural and telling wa}^, so that the interest, being shed 
along from point to point, finally suffuses the entire 
system of objects of thought. 

''If, then, you wish to insure the interest of your 
pupils, there is only one way to do it ; and that is to make 
certain that they have in their minds something to attend 
with. . . . That something can consist in nothing but a 
previous lot of ideas already interesting in themselves 
and of such a nature that the incoming novel objects 
which you present can dovetail into them and form some 
kind of logically associated and systematic whole." 

Here then is a major secret: to make a dull subject 
interesting associate it with something already interest- 
ing. What that something shall be depends upon the 
individual mind, upon individual tendencies and experi- 
ences. Unless the ideas appealing for attention do find 
themselves welcomed by related ideas already in mind, 
they are quickly driven from consciousness. Show a boy 
that physics can explain the curve of a ball, or that mathe- 
matics has a relation to his chosen career as engineer, 
and you may change a truant into an eager student. The 
dull subjects are now related to his experience of interest- 
ingness. 

While this is the best way to gain interest in dull topics, it seems 
that relating the uninteresting to any existing knowledge may win 
interest, at least temporarily ; for the mind takes interest in the 
discovery of likeness and unlikeness, and especially in identifica- 
tion. Witness how one looking at an unfamiliar picture will be- 
come enthusiastic on discovering that it is a new view of a fa- 
miliar scene, and with what pleasure he identifies feature after 
feature of the landscape. A boy studying his Bible lesson languidly 



56 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

came quickly to attention on learning that Paul traversed the same 
Italy the youngster had studied about with equal languor in school. 
There is danger, however, that distaste for one subject may be 
transferred to another and that the reaction may be, "Oh, that 's 
the same old stufE!" 

The following statement may add clearness by its pat figure.^ 

'^Getting ideas is a system of grafting, and an idea cannot be 
grafted on an alien stock. It is the teacher's business to find a 
group of old ideas that can receive the new. . . . Budding and 
grafting on to this native stock is our only possibility. . . . When 
one by training becomes able to hold himself to the same task of 
thought for a long time, it brings about a sort of mono-ideism. 
Ideas hovering about the central thought continually come ; all other 
incongruous ideas are inhibited. Such thought becomes in the 
highest degree effective." 

So we see that what is needed is not merely filling one^s 
mind with heterogeneous information, but relating the 
dull subject to existing interests. The more knowledge 
we acquire the more relations we can find. The dull 
subject may prove to be related to history, to literature, 
to science, to business, to sport; for it is a trite saying 
that any subject fully developed is found to be related 
to every other subject. This explains why it is easier to 
interest a well-informed than an ignorant man in a new 
topic: he has so many more points of contact. 

We may note here that we associate things or ideas sometimes 
because they are alike, sometimes because unlike ; sometimes be- 
cause they occur together in time or place, that is, by contiguity ; 
sometimes because they are related as cause and effect, or have a 
common source, or because one is necessary to the other, and so on. 

Novelty and interest. That novelty attracts attention 
is clear enough ; so clear that we need an understanding 
of the limitations of this truth, lest we overestimate its 
importance. Mere novelty may catch, but cannot hold 
attention. Indeed, the extremely novel has less power 
over the mind than the moderately novel. Professor 
James goes so far as to say that ^^the absolutely new is the 

1 Pyle, Outlines of Educational Psychology^ p. 213. 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTENTION 57 

absolutely uniuteresting. ' ' Again he says, ' * We hate any- 
thing absolutely new, anything without a name, and for 
which a name must be forged/'^ When a thing is 
absolutely new we have no points of contact with it, 
nothing to compare, contrast and identify with it; that 
is, it gains no derived interest, and the mind is baffled. 
The fact that Hebrew is read from right to left is not 
interesting to a man who does not read at all. As An- 
gell ^ says, the absolutely new is unintelligible. Royce ^ 
puts the matter most clearly : 

*^ Novel objects, that are otherwise indifferent, . . . 
tend to awake our attention and to become objects of 
definite consciousness, at the moment when we are able 
in some respect to recognize them. Apart from some 
decided importance which a novel object possesses for 
our feelings, the new in our experience, in so far as it is 
U7iassimilahle, tends to escape our notice. ... If a pupil 
is to be made to understand novel objects, they must be 
made so far as possible, to seem relatively familiar to him 
at each step of the process, as well as relatively novel. 
Otherwise, he may simply fail to notice them. . . . We 
see in this world, in general, what we come prepared to 
see.'' 

The chief interest in novelty, then, lies in our power 
to assimilate it, to compare, contrast and identify it with 
experience. If this were not so, then the engineer seeing 
a new type of bridge would find comparatively little in- 
terest in it ; for he knows other types in which are to be 
found every feature of this new type. Yet he spends 
hours over it, while a layman passes it as simply '^a 
queer sort of bridge." 

It is well-nigh impossible to present anything absolutely new 
to the educated adult; he at once begins to discover points of con- 

1 Tallcs to Teachers, p. 159. 

2 Psychology, p. 422. 

3 Outlines of Psychology ^ p. 235. 



58 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

tact. Primitive man furnishes us with better illustrations. A 
party of scientists, who traveled in a sailing vessel to the southern 
extremity of South America, came upon a tribe of natives who 
had no knowledge of white men or their ways. The aborigines 
were observed to take great interest in the small boats, but paid no 
attention to the ship. The boats could easily be compared with 
dugouts, but the relation of the ship to their experience was too 
much for their thinking powers. 

A bit of imagination may help us here. Suppose that a man 
were to come among us who has no knowledge of human relations, 
and yet is able to communicate with us. What a large number 
of our common notions would be meaningless to him! How could 
he, for instance, give his attention to arbitration? He knows 
nothing of war, or even of the rights of individuals ; he knows noth- 
ing of peace-making. Where shall we begin our explanation? Per- 
haps he has observed strife among animals. Perhaps we can give 
him an inkling by arranging a fight for the possession of food, 
with an arbiter coming in to divide the food among the combatants. 
Then he may have some little means of assimilating our explana- 
tions. We may be able to show him real war. Little by little he 
may come to understand the history of human warfare and become 
interested in arbitration. 

Let one who needs illustration of what is said above about nov- 
elty, take a party of unlettered folk through a museum, and observe 
what awakens keenest interest. 

Interest in the familiar. We may learn again from 
James : ^ 

'^The maximum of attention may then be said to be 
found wherever there is a systematic harmony or unifica- 
tion between the novel and the old. It is an odd circum- 
stance that neither the old nor the new, by itself, is inter- 
esting : the absolutely old is insipid ; the absolutely new 
makes no appeal at all. The old in the new is what 
claims attention, — the old with slightly new form. No 
one wants to hear a lecture on a subject completely dis- 
connected with his previous experience, but we all like 
to hear lectures on subjects of which we know a little 
already. ' ' 

We may accept this as sound doctrine, although it might lead 
us to overlook the truth that there is interest in extremely familiar 

1 Talks to Teachers, p. 107. 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTENTION 59 

things. As Royce says : *'Wheii I try to attend to a thing I 
either try to recognize or to understand it, or I take contentment 
in an already existent recognition or understanding of it, and dwell 
upon it accordingly y (Italics mine.) We find ourselves going 
over the same experiences, stories, data, time after time. Wit- 
ness the carpenter on an idle day turning to his shop and fondling 
his tools. The business man's mind continues to run on his af- 
fairs; the athlete still thinks of his game. These are their "in- 
terests," the things they "attend to." Particularly do we return 
to review great emotional experiences, as the soldier his battles. 
And especially after struggling with the new and difficult, we turn 
with relief to familiar scenes and familiar thoughts. With too 
much of the new we may suffer homesickness. 

Perhaps we should say that there is nothing absolutely 
familiar; that we can always find something new in old 
things or ideas. It is characteristic, at least of the 
trained mind, to find ever new phases of familiar things. 
Some old things bore us sadly, of course; perhaps be- 
cause they are inherently unimportant, perhaps because 
we really know too little about them. But when we 
are dealing with inherently interesting things, and 
continue to add to our knowledge of them, interest 
once enlisted, does not lapse, except temporarily from 
weariness. 

To summarize, interest is, generally speaking, strong- 
est in old things in new settings, looked at from new 
angles, given new forms and developed with new facts 
and ideas, with new light on familiar characters, new ex- 
planations of familiar phenomena, or new applications of 
old truths. 

Sustained attention. The problem of sustaining atten- 
tion, once gained, though involved in the preceding, needs 
special consideration. Psychologists tell us that attention 
is intermittent and cannot be sustained upon one idea for 
more than a few seconds. While this may not be ad- 
mitted by all as regards derived primary attention (a 
degree of attention we cannot always hope to have), 



60 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

it will generally be agreed that James is right in 
saying : ^ 

^^ There is no such thing as voluntary attention [sec- 
ondary, active] sustained for more than a few seconds 
at a time. What is called sustained voluntary attention 
is a repetition of successive efforts which bring the topic 
back to the mind. The topic once brought back, if a 
congenial one, develops; and if its development is inter- 
esting it engages the attention passively for a time. . . . 
This passive interest may be long or short. . , , No one 
can possibly attend continuously to an object that does not 
change/^ 

In another work ^ James says on the same topic: 

^^The subject must be made to show new aspects of 
itself; to prompt new questions; in a word to change. 
. . . Tou can test this by the simplest possible case of 
sensorial attention. Try to attend steadfastly to a dot 
on the paper. . . . You presently find that . . . either your 
field of vision has become blurred, so that you see noth- 
ing distinct at all, or else you have involuntarily ceased 
to look at the dot in question. . . . But if you ask your- 
self questions about the dot — how big it is, how far, what 
shade of color ; in other words, if you turn it over, if you 
think of it in various ways, along with various kinds of 
associates, — you can keep your mind on it for a compara- 
tively long time. ' ' 

Professor James says ^ also : 

' ^ ^ The natural tendency of attention when left to itself 
is to wander to ever new things ; and so soon as the inter- 
est of its object is over, so soon as nothing is to be no- 
ticed there, to something else. If ive wish to keep it upon 
one and the same object, we must seek constantly to find 
out something new about the latter, especially if other 
powerful impressions are attracting us away.' These 
words of Helmholtz are of fundamental importance. 



1 Psychology: Briefer Course, p. 224. 

2 Talks to Teachers, p. 107. ^ Bru 



^Briefer Course, p. 227. 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTENTION 61 

And if true of sensorial attention, how much more true 
are they of the intellectual variety! The conditio sine 
qua non of sustained attention to a given topic of thought 
is that we should roll it over and over incessantly and 
consider different aspects and relations of it in turn. . . . 
^^And now we see why it is that what is called sus- 
tained attention is the easier, the richer in acquisitions 
and the fresher and more original the mind. In such 
minds, subjects bud and sprout and grow. At every 
moment, they please by a new consequence and rivet 
the attention afresh. But an intellect unfurnished with 
materials, stagnant, unoriginal, will hardly be likely to 
consider any subject long. A glance will exhaust its 
possibilities. . . . The longer one does attend to a topic 
the more mastery of it one has. And the faculty of 
bringing back a wandering attention over and over again 
is the very root of judgment, character and will." 

The same truth is put in a practical form by Angell : ^ 

^^To keep a thought alive we must keep doing some- 
thing with it." Continuing he speaks of a school boy 
staring at his book, but unable to keep his mind from 
more genuine interests. *^For such a youth the sole pos- 
sibility of progress consists in taking the topic and forc- 
ing his attention to turn it over, ask questions of it, 
examine it from new sides. Presently, even though such 
questions and inspection be very foolishly conceived, 
the subject will start into life, will begin to connect itself 
with things he already knows, will take its place in the 
general furniture of his mind; and if he takes the next 
and all but indispensable step, and actually puts his 
knowledge to some use, applies it to some practical prob- 
lem, incorporates it, perhaps, in an essay, or even talks 
about it with others, he will find he has acquired a real 
mental tool he can use, and not simply a dead load he 
must carry on his already aching back. What we call 
attending to a topic for a considerable time will, there- 
fore, always be found to consist in attending to changing 
phases of the subject." 

1 Psychology, p. 77. 



62 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Suppose now you wish to keep your mind upon, not 
a dot, but some topic for a speech; let us say Lincoln. 
You cannot continue to think just Lincoln; you must 
think aiout Lincoln. To do this you need to know things 
about him, how he looked and acted, what he did and 
what his characteristics were. The more you know about 
him, and the more ready your mind in sifting and ar- 
ranging what you know, the longer you can concentrate 
upon the topic. ^ ' Concentration is not a continuous stare 
at a single idea."^ 

Summary. We now have in mind these truths : That 
the development of thought to command attention de- 
pends upon abundance of knowledge ; that this knowledge 
should be related to and combined with existing knowl- 
edge ; and that the interest of novelty lies chiefly in our 
ability to assimilate it to existing knowledge. "We learn 
further that to sustain attention to a single topic, re- 
quires change in our way of thinking about it, a shift- 
ing of our attention from point to point, which also re- 
quires wealth of knowledge. You will not be at loss to 
see how these principles, which will become familiar in 
the following chapters, bear upon the attention of the 
speaker himself in his preparation and upon the plat- 
form, and upon his efforts to gain and keep the attention 
of his audience. 

Concreteness and attention. The average person finds 
difficulty in holding his mind upon an abstraction. Abil- 
ity to do so comes as the result of training. A concrete 
idea is more vivid. We attend most easily to sensations, 
— what reaches us through eyes, ears, etc. ; next, to mental 
representations of sensations, and with most difficulty to 
abstractions and generalizations. Unless an abstraction 
is easily translatable into concrete terms it is very elusive 

1 Knowltan, Business Psychology, p. 65. 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTENTION 63 

indeed. A legal textbook would be impossible reading 
even to a student of the law, were it not for the constant 
references to cases in which John Doe and Eichard Roe 
have struggled over their personal and property rights. 
Most of us find a work on philosophy hard reading, even 
though we understand all the terms used. The style is 
too abstract for us. We are relieved by an occasional 
illustration. When a seeker indulges in much abstract 
discussion we either cease to listen, or do our best, hoping 
we understand and waiting for the welcome '^Now to 
illustrate. ' ' Says DeGarmo : ^ 

^ * Concreteness contributes perhaps more than any other 
single phase of instruction both to clearness and to vivid- 
ness. It lays the foundation, therefore, for interest. It 
is an old saying that Hhe road to hell is paved with ab- 
stractions. ' However this may be in theology, it is cer- 
tain that in education a path so paved rarely leads to 
the goal of vivid ideas. . . . Lotze tells us that all the 
strivings of the mental life not only begin with the con- 
crete perceptions of the senses, but that they return to 
them to obtain material and starting points for new 
development of the mind's activity. If this be true, the 
road paved with abstractions is the road away from in- 
terest, away from vivid and life-giving thought. ' ' 

The term concreteness is here given its usual meaning, the op- 
posite of abstraction. "A concrete name is the name of a thing, the 
abstract name is the name of a quality, attribute, or circumstance 
of a thing. Thus red house is the name of a physically existing 
thing, and is concrete; redness is the name of one quality of the 
house, and is abstract." 2 A tall man, a tall tree, a tall monu- 
ment, are all concrete terms, but tallness, denoting a quality drawn 
out or abstracted from them, is abstract. 

Concreteness and clearness. In all the preceding dis- 
cussion we might have emphasized the rather evident 
fact that clearness is developed along with interest, by 
gaining wealth of knowledge, by linking the new to the 

1 Interest and Education, p. 141. 2 Jevons, Logic, p. 20. 



64 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

old, the unknown to the known, comparing, turning ideas 
over and viewing them from many angles. The longer we 
dwell upon ideas with active mind the clearer they be- 
come. In the words of Royce : ^ 

^^If our attention succeeds in any case, . . . the object 
of this interest grows clearer in our minds ; that is, grows 
more definite and gets a better ^relief upon its back- 
ground. Indeed, attention is the conditio sine qua non 
of all important intellectual processes." 

Let us now give some special attention to the relation 
of concreteness to clearness. First, observe, the value of 
abstract thinking is not questioned. Abstraction and 
generalization are necessary to rapid and progressive 
thought.^ The clear thinker will be able to put his ideas 
into both abstract and concrete form, and one form will 
be a corrective of the other. But we must observe that 
general and abstract terms are treacherous and often 
cover confusion and ignorance. The ignorant but preten- 
tious man may talk loudly of justice, liberty, social wel- 
fare, wonders of science, philosophy, without definite 
meaning behind his words. He will explain wireless 
telegraphy with a comprehensiove gesture and one word, 
^^Electricity"; or questions about mental phenomena 
with, ''That 's psychology," or, ^'That is nothing but 
suggestion. ' ' 

Gardiner ^ says we must expect abstractions from two classes of 
men : "First, the great thinkers whose intellectual powers work, 
as it were, by leaps and flights ; in the other extreme, from people 
who are too lazy to think their subject out in specific detail. . . . 
It is only the man who can think clearly who is not afraid to 
think hard, and to test his thought by the actual facts of experi- 



1 Outlines of Psychology, p. 261. 

2 For a well balanced discussion of this subject see Adams' 
Exposition and Illustration in Teaching^ chapter on Elaboration. 

3 Forms of Prose Discourse, p. 52. 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTENTION 65 

The German philosopher Schopenhauer,i speaking of writers who 
have little to say, remarks : "Another characteristic of such writ- 
ers is that they always avoid a positive assertion when they can 
possibly do so, in order to leave a loophole for escape in case of 
need. Hence, they never fail to choose the more abstract way of 
expressing themselves ; whereas intelligent people use the more con- 
crete.'' 

Professor Hill sums up the advantages and disadvantages of gen- 
eral words : 2 The general term covers more ground but is less 
definite than the specific. It serves to classify and, as it were, 
store up knowledge. General words are of service in writings in- 
tended to popularize science, enabling the writer to avoid technical 
terms. General expressions are sometimes more striking than spe- 
cific ones ; as when we say of something, "It is perfection," or 
when Byron spoke of a "sublime mediocrity." General words are 
a resource of those who seek to disarm opposition, or to veil un- 
pleasant facts ; but also of those who seek "to hide poverty of 
thought in richness of language, to give obscurity an air of clever- 
ness and shallowness the dignity of an oracle, to cover the inten- 
tion to say nothing with the appearance of having said much, or 
to *front South by North,' as Lowell's 'Birdofredum Sawin' did. 
They abound in the resolutions of political parties, 'appeals' of 
popular orators, 'tributes to departed worth,' second-rate sermons, 
and school compositions." 

Few of us would find it possible to prove all our gen- 
eralizations ; but we certainly should avoid using abstrac- 
tions and generalizations which we have not tested by 
comparison with the world of fact and experience. 
Unfortunately we accept far too much from teachers 
and books. One is often surprised at the wild way in 
which, for example, economic terms are bandied by 
those to whom they have but the haziest meaning. 
Just as the truth that two and two makes four is learned 
by the child by putting together two apples and two 
apples, so other conceptions should be put to the test of 
reality. 

1 Essay On Style, found conveniently in Cooper's Theories of 
Style. 

2 Foundations of Rhetoric, p. 187. A book on common gram- 
matical and rhetorical errors, very sane and very useful in a stu- 
dent's library. 



66 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

We can learn the meaning of words from dictionaries, but we 
are liable to absurd mistakes when we use dictionaries which ''di- 
vest the words of all concrete accompaniments that really would 
make them intelligible to the learner." (By the way, do you at 
once get a clear-cut meaning from that quotation?) If you are 
not familiar with the word apperception, turn to a small dictionary 
and learn that it means "mental perception." Perhaps you think 
you understand. Look in your Webster and find that apperception 
is "perception involving self-consciousness." Now if you are told 
that apperception is the process I have been urging and illustrat- 
ing under the head of Derived Interest, you may understand the 
further definition, "Cognition through the relating of new ideas to 
familiar ideas." A student of the law of contracts may think he 
understands consideration when he reads the definition ; but after 
a week spent in the study of cases he knows that he did not know. 
We can rarely be sure of a word until we refer it to concrete 
situations. 

Even familiar words in new combinations may be elusive. Un- 
less we have given more than ordinary attention to such terms as 
social consciousness, survival of the fittest, natural selection, so- 
cialization of wealth, we are not likely to know their precise mean- 
ing, and thus to have earned the right to use them. 

Experience with students in interpreting selections proves that 
abstract statements are far more often misunderstood, even when 
simple, than concrete ones. Take the sentence (found in the Cur- 
tis selection, at the end of Chapter XIV) : "When an American 
citizen is content with voting merely, he consents to accept a doubt- 
ful alternative." This has often been misunderstood, and more 
often remained meaningless, until it has been translated into con- 
crete terms, as "Jeremy Diddler and Dick Turpin"; or, better, into 
the names of two rascally students known to the student. For me 
it becomes significant when I think of an aldermanic election 
where one candidate was described as a knave and the other as a 
fool. Indeed, how can one think about the matter — really think 
about it — otherwise? Is it not the natural action of the mind 
when one tries to attend to this expression, to refer to actual 
political conditions? From the same paragraph is taken this sen- 
tence, which has made more trouble than the other : "In a rural 
community such as this country was a hundred years ago, who- 
ever was nominated for oflSce was known to his neighbors, and the 
consciousness of that knowledge was a conservative influence in 
determining nominations." Surely not a diflScult thought, but it 
has proved very indistinct to many until there has been pictured 
a country village with a caucus in progress : Bill Jones is an as- 
pirant for the nomination for supervisor, but the leaders are shak- 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTENTION 57 

ing their heads because all the folks know of Bill's shady connec- 
tions with a certain bridge company. Any clear-headed person 
gets readily enough the main outlines of the selection from which 
these quotations are taken ; but it is much clearer, and of course 
much more vivid to those who by experience, observation and study, 
have gained a knowledge of political conditions. 

Clearness, evidently enough, is a matter larger than concrete- 
ness. By every means, educated men should strive to use words 
accurately as an aid to thinking and speaking clearly. It is re- 
grettable that so many students are content to use words with but 
a guess at their meaning. Emphasis on this subject is justified in 
a textbook on public speaking, for accurate use of w^ords and clear 
thinking are not likely to go with "hot air" and bombast. 

Specific vs. general v/ords. I have used abstract and 
general as synonyms, and there is ample authority for so 
doing ; ^ but generalizations can be expressed in concrete 
terms, as, ^^AU men are liars.'' Plainly enough the spe- 
cific is yet more vivid than the concrete. A /torse may 
bring to mind but a hazy, characterless image; but old 
Dohbm brings a picture with proper color, shape and 
size. Herbert Spencer, in developing his principle of 
economy of attention, tells us that concrete and specific 
expressions are more vivid and require less effort to trans- 
late into thoughts, than abstract and general terms. 
''We should avoid," he says,^ ''such a sentence as: 

"In proportion as the manners, customs, and amuse- 
ments of a nation are cruel and barbarous, the regulations 
of their penal code will be severe. 

"And we should write: 

"In proportion as men delight in battles, bull-fights, 
and combats of gladiators, will they punish by hanging, 
burning, and the rack. ' ' 

But the change shows less the advantage of the concrete 
over the abstract than that of the specific over the general. 

1 Spencer, Philosophy of Style, found in Cooper's Theories of 
Style, p. 277; Hill, Foundations of Rhetoric, p. 188; Titchener, 
Textlook, p. 529. 2 Cooper, Theories of Style, p. 278. 



68 PUBLIC SPEAKING ^ 

As an example of the greater power of the specific to catch at- 
tention, take this : A newsboy passes through a car shouting, 
^'Papers here, morning papers I" All faces wear an indifferent 
look. *'New York papers, Worlds Herald, Sun, American T^ and 
several call him back. The specific names had stirred interest in 
particular papers, or topics associated with particular journals, as 
sport, politics, foreign news. "All about the baseball games," may 
succeed better yet ; and still better, "Athletics beat the Giants ; 
Baker gets two home-runs !" 

It may be said concerning Spencer's sentences, that 
while the second is undoubtedly more vivid and more 
likely to catch attention, we shall have the clearest under- 
standing of the thought when we take the two together ; 
for when the general truth is what is aimed at, there is 
always a possibility that the hearer may not deduce it 
from a specific statement. Note how, in the following 
sentence, the concrete and abstract statements help each 
other : 

"In the nature of things we may not be presumed to have attained 
through evolutionary processes that perfection in w^hich the lower 
nature shall be in complete subjection to the higher. The ghost of 
our four-footed ancestry will not down." 

Summary. For the sake of both clearness and vivid- 
ness, we should think and express our thoughts, not 
merely in abstract and general terms, but also in con- 
crete and specific terms. As a rule, the concrete attracts 
attention more than the abstract, and the specific still 
more than the merely concrete. 

Dewey's definitions of the term concrete. Some writers 
give to the terms abstract and concrete modified mean- 
ings which are not without suggestion for us. Professor 
Dewey says : ^ 

'^ Concrete denotes a meaning marked off from other 
meanings so that it is readily apprehended by itself. 
When we hear the words, taljlCy chair, stove, coat, we do 

1 How We Think, p. 136. 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTENTION 69 

not have to reflect in order to grasp what is meant. The 
terms convey meaning so directly that no effort at transla- 
tion is needed. The meanings of some terms and things, 
however, are grasped only by first calling to mind more 
familiar things and then tracing the connections between 
them and what we do not understand. Roughly speak- 
ing, the former kind of meanings is concrete ; the latter 
abstract." So ^^what is familiar is mentally concrete." 

If you are beginning physics molecule is abstract, for 
you have to translate it; when at home in the subject 
the term becomes concrete. To most of us, the terms of 
the metric system are abstract. So concreteness is a rela- 
tive matter, depending on the intellectual progress of the 
individual. 

In this use of the word, Be concrete means: Think 
out your subject in terms with which you are so familiar, 
of the meanings of which you are so certain, that no 
translation is necessary. One has but to reflect on his 
difiSculties in getting with certainty and clearness the 
thought in a passage from a foreign tongue in which he 
is not thoroughly at home, to appreciate the force of this 
advice. 

Dewey goes further and finds that the limits of the 
concrete, that is, the familiar, — 

''are fixed mainly by the demands of the practical life. 
Things such as sticks and stones, meat and potatoes, 
houses and trees, are such constant features of the envi- 
ronment of which we have to take account in order to 
live, that their important meanings are soon learnt, and 
indissolubly associated with objects. . . . The necessities 
of social intercourse convey to adults a like concreteness 
upon such terms as taxes, elections, ivages, the law, and 
so on. . . . By contrast, the abstract is the theoretical, or 
that not intimately associated with practical concerns. 
The abstract thinker . . . deliberately abstracts from 
application in life; that is, he leaves practical uses out 



70 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

of account. . . . When thinking is used as a means to 
some end, good, or value beyond itself, it is concrete; 
when it is employed simply as a means to more thinking^ 
it is abstract.'^ Education should develop the capabili- 
ties, possessed by every human being, to think in both 
ways. ^^Nor is theoretical thinking a higher type of 
thinking than practical. A person who has at command 
both types of thinking is of a higher order than he who 
possesses only one. ' ' 

Here again is food for thought. Most of us under- 
stand truth more clearly and attend to it more easily 
when we see its practical applications. Think concretely 
in this sense, means : Think out your subjects with refer- 
ence to their practical bearings ; think, not only in terms 
of men and things and institutions, but also in terms of 
their aims, uses and purposes. 

Imagination. If we fill our minds with knowledge of 
our subject, if we relate this to experience, if we think 
in concrete terms and emphasize practical applications, 
we shall fill our minds with images. This tendency of 
thought to take the form of images is to be encouraged by 
the speaker. 

Kinds of imagery. The psychologist's use of the word 
images is technical and covers not only what one sees 
in the ^^ mind's eye," but also what one hears in the 
mind's ear, and movements, tastes, smells, touches which 
one experiences in imagination. When there comes into 
mind a picture, one is said to have a visual image; when 
one hears sounds not actual, as when a musician hears the 
music of the score he is reading, one has an auditory 
image, 

' ' I call up a former experience in which I was playing 
football," says Professor Scott,^ '^ . . I feel in imagi- 

1 Psychology of Public Speaking, 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTEN/TION 71 

nation the straining of the muscles as I attempted to 
pusli against the line. I imagine the terrible struggle, 
the twisting, straining and writhing of every muscle, 
tendon and joint. As I imagine it, I find the state is 
reestablished and I am unconsciously leaning toward the 
goal as if the experience were a present one. My motor 
imagery of the football game is almost as distinct as the 
motor perception of moving the table. ... In my imagi- 
nation I feel a fly slowly crawling up my nose — I have a 
tactual image of it — and the image is so strong that I 
have to stop to rub my nose. I ate a peach this morn- 
ing. ... As I think of how it tasted, my mouth waters 
— I have a vivid gustatory image of the peach. ... As 
I think of how the gas factory smelt yesterday when I 
passed it, I have an olfactory image of the gas. ... As 
I think of how it felt when I stepped on a rusty nail, I 
have a mental image of the pain. ' ' 

Individuals differ with regard to the forms of imagery which 
predominate in their consciousness, and they differ in the vividness 
of their imagery ; but images are common to all. The majority 
have \dsual images as their most vivid form and are said to be 
"eye-minded." Others are "ear-minded" ; while others are more 
strongly motor. The other forms of images are usually less dis- 
tinct. Most persons are of mixed type and have, in varying de- 
grees of distinctness, several of the forms. 

Mental images vary from those faint and incomplete to those so 
vivid that we mistake them for perceptions coming through the 
senses. We think we see Brown on the street, but learn he is out 
of town ; we think we hear a call but no one is near ; we think 
the bullet pierced our flesh, but the surgeon finds only a hole in 
our coat. Balzac, we are told, "could produce, in his own body, 
the sharpest pain of being cut with a knife by imagining himself 
cut." 

Images and imagination. ^^The term imagination is 
most conveniently used as a name for the sum total of 
the mental processes that express themselves in our 
mental imagery. When used psychologically the word 
imagination conveys no implication that the mental 
imagery in question stands for unreal or fantastic ob- 



72 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

jects."^ We have here at once an authoritative defini- 
tion and the correction of a mistaken notion. 

The imaginative and the imaginary. We must drive 
out of our heads once for all the mistaken belief that 
in speaking of imagination we refer to the fanciful. It is 
true that without control imagination may lead us far 
astray; but rightly controlled, *^The imaginative is not 
necessarily the imaginary. . . . The proper function of 
imagination is vision of realities which cannot be exhib- 
ited under existing conditions. " ^ A general planning 
a battle, and directing it over a field a hundred miles in 
extent ; a war correspondent writing his despatch, weav- 
ing together what he has seen and what he has been told, 
with no part of the reality before him as he writes, the 
historian writing the authoritative description years after, 
— do not all these need imagination to make situations 
real and true? Imagination is also the foundation of 
sympathy, faith, hope, ambition. 

^'The imagination is not a process of thought which 
must deal chiefly with unrealities and impossibilities, 
and which has for its chief end our amusement. ... It 
is rather a commonplace necessary process, which illu- 
mines the way for our everyday thinking and acting — 
a process without which we think and act by haphazard 
chance or blind imitation. It is the process by which the 
images from our past experiences are marshaled and 
made to serve our present. Imagination looks into the 
future and constructs our patterns and lays our plans. 
It sets up our ideals and pictures us in the act of achiev- 
ing them. It enables us to live our joys and sorrows, our 
victories and defeats, before we reach them. It looks 
into the past and allows us to live with the kings and seers 
of old, or it goes back to the beginning and sees things 
in the process of making. It comes into our present and 

1 Royce, Outlines of Psychology, p. 161. 

2 Dewey, How We Think, p. 224. 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTENTION 73 

plays a part in every act from the simplest to the most 
complex. . . . 

' ' . . . Suppose I describe to you the siege which gave 
Port Arthur to Japan. Unless you can take the images 
which my words suggest and build them into struggling, 
shouting, bleeding soldiers ; into forts and entanglements 
and breastworks ; into roaring cannon and whistling bul- 
let and screaming shell — unless you can take all these 
separate images and out of them get one great unified 
complex, then my description will be to you only so many 
words largely without content, and you will lack the 
power to comprehend the historical event in any com- 
plete way. Unless you can read the poem and out of the 
images suggested by the words reconstruct the picture 
which was in the mind of the author as he wrote 'The 
Village Blacksmith' or 'Snowbound,' the significance will 
have dropped out, and the throbbing scenes of life and 
action become only so many dead words, like the shell 
of the chrysalis after the butterfly has left its shroud. 
. . . Without the power to reconstruct [the pictures] as 
you read, you may commit the words, and be able to re- 
cite them, and to pass an examination upon them, but 
the living reality . . . will forever escape you. ' ' ^ 

Imagination and attention. The first reason why a 
speaker should encourage the tendency of his thought 
to take the form of images, is that imagery makes a strong 
demand upon attention. Imagery makes thought more 
vivid, because more life-like and objective ; that is, more 
like actual experience coming to us through our senses. 
We cannot help attending to strong sensations; and we 
are strongly drawn by images which reproduce sensations 
and perceptions. If you wished to interest a boy in 
France, you would take him there if possible. If you 
could not do that, you would try to make him imagine 
what France is like, its scenery, people, art and life. 

Imagination and clearness. While chief emphasis is 

1 Betts, Mind and its Education, p. 128. 



74 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

laid upon imagination as a source of vividness, we see 
from the preceding examples that imagery makes for 
clearness of thought also. *^ History, literature, and 
geography, nay, even geometry and arithmetic, are full of 
matters that must be imaginatively realized if they are 
realized at all. ' ' ^ The mathematician treating of solid 
forms, the physicist considering atoms and gravitation 
and projecting his theories and laws into the universe, 
and the biologist evolving theories of life, must have 
imagination. Faraday and Darwin are ranked among 
the great imaginative minds of the last century. Com- 
ing into the world of affairs, the inventor constructing a 
machine, the architect working over elevations and the 
arrangement of rooms, chimneys and stairways, the states- 
man seeking to grasp the situation in a distant province, 
or to forecast the effect of a new tariff law, the speaker 
presenting these same matters to an audience, or any one 
who has to realize an object or situation, past, present, or 
future, not actually present to his senses, is dependent 
upon the imagination, ''the instrument of reality." 
' ' Unless the flagging interest of the common man, ' ' says 
Ross,^ ''be stimulated to divine the multifarious life of his 
country, his will be no fit hands to hold the reins. ' ' 

Imagination, productive and reproductive. We find the 
terms productive and reproductive used as distinguish- 
ing, not so much two kinds, as two functions of imagina- 
tion. (Productive imagination is sometimes called cre- 
ative, a word somewhat too pretentious, as we shall see.) 
As the preceding examples indicate, imagination repro- 
duces past experiences, though never with complete fidel- 
ity. This is memory. Again, we imagine things or 
events we have not experienced ; that is, we exercise pro- 
ductive imagination. 

1 Dewey, How We Think, p. 224. 2 Social Control, p. 259. 



PRINCIPLES OF ATTENfTION 75 

Imagination must have material with which to work. 

Productive imagination cannot really create anything ; it 
can only present new combinations of already familiar 
elements. We have done no better in picturing an angel 
than to attach wings to a beautiful human being and our 
gods are always glorified men. Almost any boy has his 
idea of what a battle is like ; but it is made up from his 
experiences in fist and snowball fights and his little knowl- 
edge of guns and cannons, helped out by pictures and 
vivid descriptions. Since the most brilliant imagination 
is thus limited by previous experience, it follows that to 
imagine vividly and accurately a scene, a situation, or an 
experience, we have to store our minds with an abundance 
of data arising from accurate observation and wide read- 
ing. The boy's idea of a battle may be in many 
ways grotesque. It is sure to be unless he has added 
study to his small experience. So a statesman may have 
a distorted idea of affairs in the Far East. 

What imagination can do with proper material. 
Equally important is the truth that, given sufficient facts, 
imagination can use them to build conceptions both vivid 
and true. Without imagination the facts are dead stuff; 
but with imagination a gifted boy can, by adding study to 
his little experience, gain such a true picture of a battle 
that he can write a realistic battle story. He may be 
able to feel the actual sensations of going under fire.^ 
So too the statesman, by a study of the materials at hand, 
warmed into life by constructive imagination, may gain a 
view of the situation in the Far East in which products, 
peoples and armaments fall into proper relations, so 
that he can deal justly with situations as they arise. He 
is like a blindfolded chess-player, only his game is vastly 
more complicated. It would be much easier, of course, if 

1 Read Stephen Crane's Red Badge of Courage, 



76 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

one had actual observation and experience to reproduce 
directly ; but it is rather rare that one has complete first- 
hand knowledge of a situation with which one has to deal, 
or of which one has to speak. ^'The image thus affords 
us/' says Angell,^ ^'the method by which we shake off the 
shackles of the world of objects immediately present to 
sense, and secure the freedom to overstep the limits of 
space and time as our fancy, or our necessity, may 
dictate." 

Conclusion. Everywhere we have found need for a 
thorough knowledge of the subjects we wish to treat. 
We find that this knowledge must be combined with our 
existing store and all worked over in many ways. Among 
possible ways, we emphasize thinking our material out in 
concrete terms, and building it, by power of imagination, 
into the forms of actual things, — men, situations and 
events. This is not the place, of course, for the systematic 
treatment of these topics ; and I have simply emphasized 
those matters which experience indicates as needing spe- 
cial attention in our work. In the next chapter we shall 
apply the principles of this to the attention of the speaker 
himself. In later chapters the principles will prove of 
value with reference to the attention of the audience. 

1 Psychology, p. 178. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE speaker's ATTENTION TO HIS TOPIC 

We are now prepared to consider more fully the means 
of fulfilling the requirement that a speaker should have a 
full realization of the content of his words as he utters 
them. Since he must also attend to his audience, he 
cannot absolutely lose himself in his subject; but we 
know that the danger is that the young speaker will at- 
tend to neither ideas nor audiences, and will speak only 
empty words. He should seek, therefore, so to develop his 
theme that it will powerfully command his attention. 
His attention, as he stands on the platform, will depend 
not merely upon his will, but more upon his preparation, 
the abundance of his material and his handling of it. 
He can do much by sheer determination to attend, by 
forming the habit of never speaking with wandering 
attention ; but more than will power is needed. 

Topics of interest. When feasible, the speaker should 
choose topics of interest to himself, as well as to his 
audience, so that he may have an initial interest to de- 
velop. Here we touch upon one of the most common 
causes of poor work in public speaking classes : the speak- 
ers often take subjects, not because they are interested, 
but because they must have ^'something to talk about." 
But though one has to speak upon a subject that does 
not interest him at the outset (and there may be good 
reason in the occasion, the expectation of the audience, or 
in the ultimate purpose of the speaker himself), even 
then the case is not hopeless. 

77 



78 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Applications of the preceding chapter. To such a case 
as that just mentioned and to the commoner case of an in- 
terest which needs deepening, we may apply the lessons of 
the preceding chapter. The application is so aptly made 
by a student, in an examination paper written at the end 
of a brief elementary course, that I take pleasure in 
quoting him : ^ 

'^To work up interest in any subject we must have 
more than a superficial knowledge of it. It is the person 
who knows nothing about things who is not interested 
in them. Suppose a person has never studied bridges; 
then all bridges are alike to him, either very long, or very 
wide, or very high, and beyond that he is not interested. 
In other words, his interest in a new bridge is short- 
lived and may be exhausted by looking at it a moment 
or so. But to one who has made a study of their every 
member, every unit has a significance, and he can spend 
hours inspecting them, if anything increasing his interest. 
Thus it is with a topic for a speech. The more work 
done upon its preparation the more points of connecting 
interest with other things we see; and the minute the 
mind correlates the speech with other things in our own 
experiences interest becomes quickened. Whenever we 
see an article upon the subject, or a like subject, we jump 
to read it, for it is connected with something we already 
know a little about. ' ' 

Let us suppose, as an extreme case, that you are as- 
signed to speak upon Greek archaeology, and you do not 
know even what the term means. What to do? First, 
you proceed to find out what the topic means, and by 
applying secondary attention, gain some information 
about it. You discover that the Greeks, instead of being 
mere book creatures, actually had sports, Olympic games 
in fact; and that we are imitating their sports to-day. 
Thus a connection is made between them and your estab- 

1 Mi*. J. C. Ward Jr., Sibley College, 1914. 



THE SPEAKER'S ATTENTION 79 

lished interest in athletics. Go into the museum of casts 
and look at the Discus Thrower and the Wrestler ; study 
their muscles and attitudes. Following this line of study, 
you may become interested in Greek art. Again, you 
find the Greeks were a military people and fought heroic 
battles on land and sea. Now you have at least two 
points of contact which would make the Greeks interest- 
ing even to a twelve-year-old. You find, furthermore, 
that they had industries, science, engineers, lawyers, 
doctors, slaves. Some or all of these, and many other 
bits of information, develop in you more and more inter- 
est, until you find it no hardship to study the material 
remains of this wonderful people. The points of first 
contact will shed their interest upon related points, and 
gradually interest will suffuse the entire subject. The 
new and novel will furnish interest by comparison and 
contrast with the familiar. There will be ample scope 
for imagination in making real the country, the people 
and their life. 

First stage of preparation: review of what one has. 
To illustrate more in detail, suppose you are to speak upon 
Lincoln, and that you have some knowledge of and inter- 
est in your subject. First, see what can be made of 
your present store. If you sit down and frown at a 
piece of paper, you are not likely to accomplish much 
thinking. You must do something with your material. 
Apply the directions of Angell and James : ^ ^ To keep a 
thought alive . . . keep turning it over and over, keep 
doing something with it"; ^'roU it over and over inces- 
santly and consider different aspects of it in turn." 
''Ask questions of it ; examine it from all sides." Think 
of Lincoln in various characters, — as a boy on the fron- 
tier, as laborer, student, la^vyer, politician, stump speaker, 
writer, president. Ask yourself how he became educated 



80 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

with such meager opportunities, the secret of his success 
as a lawyer, of his hold upon the people, of his success in 
a terrible crisis. 

In asking questions and considering possibilities, do not refuse 
to consider those that seem futile ; they may lead to something. 

You will find a mechanical device i of great benefit in this work : 
write each idea on a separate slip of paper or a card. First, this 
serves to objectify your idea, to get it out where you can view it 
more as if it were another's. The very process of writing it down 
may show you its futility, or make it bloom into a better idea. 
Expression both clarifies and develops. In the second place, this 
method is better than writing in a note book, because of greater 
ease of arranging and rearranging until the fruitless ideas are 
rejected and the remainder brought into a system which shows 
their relations. 

By the process here advised, your mind is aided in 
^'attending to the various phases of the subject"; and as 
a result your mastery increases. You are at least on the 
trail of some ideas and have ''got the subject on your 
mind. ' ' You have a beginning on that important matter, 
an analysis; for to analyze is to find out the possible 
topics and their relations. You have a tentative plan 
and outline. Furthermore, this stage of work makes for 
independence and originality of thought, for you start 
with an individual point of view. It may be you will 
abandon every supposed fact, every opinion, every bit of 
analysis, as a result of further study; still you will not 
simply ''swallow whole" what you read, but will use dis- 
crimination and judgment, since you have brought forth 
from the recesses of your subconscious mind something 
for a basis of comparison. You will also save time in the 
end ; for knowing what you have and what you lack, and 
what some of the phases of the subject are, you now pro- 
ceed to read to more purpose, looking for definite things, 
rather than reading hit and miss. 

1 Of. Wendell, English Composition, pp. 165, 173, 211. 



THE SPEAKER'S ATTENTION 81 

A common cause of poor speaking is the omission of 
this stage of preparation. 

Second stage of preparation: reading and conversing. 
Another cause of poor speaking is found in failure to 
acquire an abundance of material. You should now pro- 
ceed to increase your information about Lincoln. This 
you will, in this case, gain chiefly by reading. In ideal 
preparation you would read everything obtainable. In 
practice you should read as much as time and opportunity 
permit. You should read about Lincoln in general, till 
you have a good understanding of his career as a whole, 
in order that you may not get and give a distorted view 
of him. Then you should read especially upon that 
phase which is your theme. While you should read much, 
you should spend more time in thinking of what you read, 
— really thinking, not mooning over your book. You 
should be assimilating what you learn with what you al- 
ready have, comparing, rejecting or accepting, as judg- 
ment dictates. *^Knit each new thing on to some acquisi- 
tion already in mind"; for example, each fact you learn 
in regard to Lincoln's attitude toward slavery should not 
be left isolated, but should be compared with what you 
already have in mind on that topic, confirming or correct- 
ing your views. Sift, compare, contrast, bind together. 
^^To think," says Halleck,^ ^^is to compare things with 
each other, to notice wherein they agree and differ, and 
to classify them according to those agreements and dif- 
ferences. " You need not only information, but informa- 
tion analyzed and synthesized into order. 

But reading is not the only way to gain facts and the 
stimulation of comparing your own ideas with those of 
others. Talk with those who know. What could be 
more helpful, in preparing our imagined speech, than to 

1 Psychology and Psychic Culture, p. 180. 



82 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

talk with a man who actually knew Lincoln? Particu- 
larly would such a conversation bring Lincoln home to 
you as a real person. But talk also with people who do 
not know much of your subject, with* many kinds of peo- 
ple. They will suggest new ideas to you ; and in particu- 
lar show you how your audience is likely to take your 
speech and what the difficulties are. It helps some 
speakers in preparing a speech to talk to themselves. 

In all this work, and in that which follows, notes should be 
taken on slips or cards, and the new cards arranged with the old 
until the best order is found and the main heads stand out. 

Third stage: working the material. The work now to 
be discussed should not be held back till all suggested 
above has been done; it simply should be more empha- 
sized after the materials are gained. Now make sure 
that your thought of the subject is concrete. In treating 
of a man, your thinking will tend to concreteness ; yet 
there may be much in what you have read on Lincoln 
that needs to be brought to the touchstone of reality, 
especially the ' ' glittering generalities ' ' in eulogistic utter- 
ances. What comes to you in unfamiliar terminology 
and method of thought, reduce to familiar terms. Com- 
pare Lincoln's experiences with familiar experiences and 
his traits with those you observe in others. Think of 
his going about the homely duties of life, in common- 
place situations ; do not get a theatrical view of him, or 
imagine him always at the storm center of a crisis. 
Think of him in practical terms ; for instance, ask your- 
self how Lincoln, with his characteristics as man, lawyer, 
or president, would act to-day. Would he be a corpora- 
tion lawyer ? A * ' standpatter ' ' or a liberal ? What sug- 
gestions, practical for young men, with regard to educa- 
tion, can be drawn from his life ? 



THE SPEAKER^S ATTENTION 83 

Do you think these suggestions unnecessary? I well remember 
the flat failure of a college senior in preparing a speech on Lincoln, 
— a speech he verj^ much wanted to make good. He could not 
"get going." He failed simply because he did not know how to 
work and did not begin by saturating himself with Lincoln and 
mulling over the material. He was not unique in his method or 
failure. 

Imag^ination in preparation, Throughout the prepara- 
tion, but increasingly as you proceed, utilize imagina- 
tion, ^*the instrument of reality." See in your mind's 
eye the persons, things, acts, and conditions with which 
you deal. If you are trying to understand a person, 
vizualize him as clearly as you can ; not as a mere homo, 
but as tall, sandy-haired, ruddy-complexioned, wearing 
a sack suit, etc. And you should acquire the needed in- 
formation for imagination to work upon. Also, you must 
give imagination time to work. Encourage sound 
images, if sound has a part in the reality you are con- 
sidering, — as in treating of a battle. Give free rein to 
your motor imagery. Sometimes you can best realize a 
situation by imaginatively putting yourself into it, tak- 
ing part in its action and conversations. Sometimes a 
single image will suffice; again you will be helped by 
elaborating a situation in detail, even working out a sort 
of drama. Sometimes it is important that the imagery 
be as true as possible to fact, as when an engineer is striv- 
ing to make clear to himself and to his audience of capi- 
talists, the situation of a proposed water power; but 
more often it is sufficient that imagination build forms 
approximately and essentially true to reality, true in im- 
pression. In no case should imagination be permitted to 
produce what is essentially untrue. 

To be more concrete and specific, let us return again to 
your speech on Lincoln. You will readily find numerous 
pictures and descriptions from which you can construct 



84 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

his appearance. There is also a wealth of anecdote about 
Lincoln, touching every phase of his life, the most ordi- 
nary features as well as the most important; and these 
will enable you to know the man. And you must know 
him as a man in order to understand him as an orator or 
as a statesman. You can come to know how he acted, 
how he talked, the changes of his countenance from mirth 
to sorrow ; to know him, in short, so that were it possible 
for you to meet him in the flesh, you would feel like say- 
ing, ^^Good morning, Mr. Lincoln!" Let us have no 
mistake about this : I do not mean that you should merely 
know certain facts about Lincoln, but that so far as your 
peculiar mentality permits, you should realize Lincoln; 
not merely know that his face would change from mirth 
as he told a story to sadness as he felt again the burden 
of the war, but see the change take place. 

I have emphasized getting acquainted with Lincoln, 
because the personal aspect is most liable to be neglected 
by the beginner. You will, of course, try to realize the 
great situations in which Lincoln was placed. Suppose 
you are studying him as a speaker : after you have some 
knowledge of his career as a whole and have acquired 
personal acquaintance with the man, you may take up 
the data relating to his early speeches. You may see 
him making speeches on a literal stump, while the other 
hands hoe the corn; you may hear him at the village 
store, telling stories, arguing politics, and gaining some- 
thing of his later power to hold attention, to make clear 
arguments and to expose fallacies. You may see him 
pouring over scanty documents of American history ; and 
later arguing with consummate logic and eminent fair- 
ness in the courts. If you are giving special attention to 
the Lincoln-Douglas debates, you cannot understand 
these or feel their significance unless you first understand 



THE SPEAKER'S ATTENTION 85 

and feel the situation in state and nation into which they 
fitted. You will wish also to realize the immediate set- 
tings of those debates. See the places in which he spoke, 
take your place upon the platforms, gay with flags ; look 
over the groves, the people who come driving ten and 
twenty miles in farm wagons, frontiersmen and children 
of frontiersmen, making a holiday, but yet serious in 
their realization of the crisis, thinking men and women 
who can rise to the high level of argument to which Lin- 
coln calls them. 

I cannot carry this farther without taking undue space. The 
events can be found vividly pictured for us by biographers and in 
historical fiction.i You may study the First Inaugural Address, 
the Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugural and Lincoln's other 
speeches as you have the debates. 

You will see that in all this work you will need facts 
and more facts ; but quite as much, judgment and imagi- 
nation to enable you to get at the truth and to realize 
the truth about Lincoln. With Such study as is sug- 
gested you can develop such a conception that you will 
be able to speak of Lincoln with a verity and a personal 
interest that will go far toward putting you on an equal- 
ity with those who knew Lincoln face to face ; perhaps, 
with a more just estimate. 

Preparing a more abstract subject. If one is speaking 
on such a subject as arbitration, the teachings of this 
chapter are still more needed. The young speaker is 
prone to deal with such subjects with too little basis in 
concrete facts ; and consequently too shallow understand- 
ing and interest. Having but a second-hand enthusiasm 

1 See, for example, Churchill's novel, The Crisis. Herndon gives 
^n intimate view of Lincoln, his law partner, but is not always 
reliable. For a basis of study take the large work of Nicolay and 
Hay. You may well read also general histories of Lincoln's time 
and the lives of his contemporaries in order to correct the views 
gained from his partizans. 



86 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

for arbitration, or worse, a mere hope that the topic will 
do for a speech, with scanty data drawn from a shoddy 
magazine article, he makes but a conventional, and prob- 
ably a muddy, speech. A man of large knowledge of 
history and long diplomatic experience, like Andrew D. 
White, will find little trouble in Gxing his mind on arbi- 
tration. For such a one there are so many phases, rela- 
tions, applications, so many men who have advocated or 
condemned, Hague conferences, signs of the times, — such 
a wealth of thought material that the topic is likely to 
tyrannize over attention. The young speaker has no 
such advantage ; but by proper handling of the material 
which he can find, he can change arbitration from an 
uncertain object of attention, drifting for lack of mooring 
in his mind, into a strong, clear concept. 

Again, he should make his preliminary analysis of the 
subject, his search for information and the opinions of 
others, and sift, compare and relate, until he has a well 
organized body of experience and clear ideas. Again, 
he should link his new ideas to his established interests, 
in politics, in economics, in social science, in morals, in 
religion ; and in these fields to his special interests, as in 
eugenics. And again he should transmute the lifeless 
data into living forms. By true imagination he should 
realize the effects of war, upon the battlefield, in the 
homes of the people, in exhaustion of resources, and in 
deterioration of character; and no less should he realize 
the working of his proposed plan. Given this sort of 
preparation, carried out in sufficient detail, a young man 
can earn the right to speak; and he will speak with 
neither listlessness nor declamation, but with grasp and 
sincerity. 

I take pleasure in inserting here another paragraph from the 
examination paper quoted before in this chapter. We may note 



THE SPEAKER'S ATTENTION 87 

that the writer has in mind a considerable knowledge of the pyra- 
mids, that this knowledge has been linked to his dominant interest, 
engineering, and that his imagination has done what he says it 
should do. 

"Suppose we were making a speech on the Construction of the 
Pyramids of Egypt. . . . We may never have even seen them. 
However, if we bring imagination into play, we can picture the 
Vast armies who built them, the huge, cumbersome carts used in 
carrying the stones, the hundreds of sweating, babbling slaves who 
were made to haul them, the harsh overseers who drove the slaves 
on to work, the inclined planes up which the stones were dragged by 
sheer might ; and in time we could make the whole scene be so real 
to us that we could almost imagine ourselves to be the designers 
and engineers. In this way the subject would be made alive to us, 
and when we talked it would be with the conviction that we were 
talking on something we knew about from our own experience, and 
not something taken out of a few dusty old books and here merely 
something to talk about." 

Expression during preparation. In working over your 
material, a method you will naturally employ to some 
extent is to be encouraged, — that of talking and writing 
on the subject. Write out your ideas quite regardless 
of the final form they are to take. If you write from 
several different angles at different times, so much the 
better. As you learn a forest by going through it in 
many directions, so you may learn a subject. To change 
the figure, make many different cross sections. Some 
will find talking the subject through to the imagined 
audience better than writing. The disadvantage of talk- 
ing is that it is likely to be less clear and orderly than 
writing. On the other hand, talking helps one more to 
feel the audience in advance ; and also the talks are not 
preserved. The early written drafts ought to be put 
resolutely in the fire. 

Work not wasted. It matters not that much you have 
learned and thought out cannot be used in your speech ; 
no truth learned need be considered useless, though some 
truths are more important than others and more perti- 
nent to your purpose. All go to build up the concept 
in your mind. You gain in mastery as well as in inter- 



88 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

est, and become able to speak with a clearness, a sense of 
proportion, a discrimination, and an earnestness which 
constitute the charm of a speaker who is *^full of his 
subject/' as contrasted with one of shallow knowledge. 
We cannot always explain an impression, which never- 
theless grows upon us as we listen, that a speaker has 
nothing back of what he says, that he has exhausted his 
fund. 

"That man," said a keen student of a young lecturer, "seems to 
me to pump himself dry every day; he has to fill up again over 
night." In contrast, I have a friend v^ho, when he talks of medi- 
eval history, seems to be quite as much at home as in this present 
age ; and he speaks of historical characters as of intimates of v^hom 
he might tell us no end of good stories. He makes even an ig- 
noramus interested. 

A Princeton graduate tells of a lecture in which Professor Wood- 
row Wilson was saying to his class that Gladstone could make any 
subject of interest, even a four-hour speech on the "budget." 
"Young men," exclaimed the professor, "it is not the subject that 
is dry; it is you that are dry!" Not unrelated to Gladstone's 
power of interesting audiences are the facts that he had wonderful 
stores of knowledge on a great diversity of subjects, and that he 
had also a remarkable ability in "getting up" a special topic. 

We all like to hear the speaker who has known the hero 
he eulogizes, or has been through the experience he 
describes, or has fought for the cause he advocates ; be- 
cause, as we say, *'his subject means something to him." 
There is a sense of reality and a ring of earnestness 
r^ather than forced interest. It is in experience that the 
older speaker has an advantage over the younger, whose 
flashy enthusiasm is much less impressive than the 
quieter words of the veteran. This advantage cannot 
be entirely overcome ; but the man who knows and who 
is in earnest will be listened to whatever his age. 

Give time to your work : begin early. ' ' The longer one 
does attend to a topic, the more mastery of it one has." 
We have considered at length the means of prolonging 



THE SPEAKER'S ATTENTION 89 

and developing attention. It remains to be said that not 
only the time spent in actual work counts, but also the 
mere length of time you carry your topic in mind. Select 
your topic as early as possible and give it time to ''bud 
and sprout and grow, ' ' time for the relationships to clear 
up, and for the processes of assimilation to complete 
themselves, give time for the ''unconscious cerebration," 
or in homely phrase, for the matter to "soak in"; and 
especially give time for imagination to work. 

We may appropriate what Oliver Wendell Holmes makes the 
Autocrat say i of conversation : *'Talk about those subjects you 
have had long in your mind. . . . Knowledge and timber should n't 
be used till they are seasoned.'* When you have put an idea in 
your mind and return to it after an inten^al, "you do not find it as 
it was when acquired. It has domiciliated itself, so to speak, — 
become at home, — entered into relations with your other thoughts, 
and integrated itself with the whole fabric of the mind." 

There is another good reason for starting early in the 
fact that once we have set our minds for a certain topic, 
materials and ideas seem to flow to us from every direc- 
tion. They existed all about us before, of course, but 
we did not notice them, ^e find articles and books on 
the subject when we are looking for other matter, and 
from the commonest experience we may draw a valuable 
illustration. Good illustrations are highly important in 
speech-making and exceedingly hard to find when wanted. 
Other materials we usually can find by systematic search, 
but the right illustration may elude us. If we discover 
early what sort of illustrations we need, we have a better 
chance to find them by good luck. 

We should begin early, also, that we may the better 
criticize our own work. We all know that after strug- 
gling over a piece of composition, or other constructive 
work, we are not immediately in a position to judge it. 

1 The Autocrat at the Breakfast Talle, p. 138. 



90 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Put it aside for a time, and we are better able to ^^size it 
up/' And we shall find that it is with extreme difficulty 
that we get any genuine criticism except our own. 

Failure to begin speeches early is one of the common- 
est causes of poor speaking, especially in class work. 
Students often feel that it is all the same if they put in 
the due amount of work in a hurry as late as possible ; 
but they deceive themselves. In the hastily prepared 
speech there is lack of assimilation, of clear order, of 
sureness of touch, of the sense of reality. Moreover, the 
speaker who has hurried his work at the end will be 
nervous, and will lack good control of his thoughts. 
"Whatever amount of time you have for the preparation 
of a speech, use part of that time as early as possible. 
You will get a better return on the time and energy spent. 

These teachings are practical. ^'But," demands a 
voice, '^how much time do you think we can give to the 
preparation of a short speech ? We have something else 
to do!" I beg your pardon; I thought you wished to 
make a good speech, the best you are capable of. Of 
course, those who wish to learn how to make a speech 
with nothing to say, have no use for the doctrines of this 
chapter. I have been speaking of thorough-going prepa- 
ration. It is true that such preparation may take a 
long time. AVhen great speeches have been made with 
apparently little preparation, as in the classic instance 
of Webster's Reply to Hayne, they have really sprung 
from years of study, discussion and experience, in which 
materials have been amassed. '^ Young man," Webster 
is reported to have said to a conceited youth, 'Hhere is 
no such thing as extemporaneous acquisition." Not 
only have materials been amassed, but, what is quite as 
important for the purpose, they have been formulated 
over and over again, and in different ways. 



THE SPEAKER^S ATTENTION 91 

Grady, we are told, rose to make his speech on the New South, 
which gave him fame in a night, without knowing what he would 
say. In the first place, one simply does not believe Grady so 
foolish as to come to this important event without careful thought 
of matter, arrangement and form of expression. He probably 
left until the occasion decisions in regard to which of certain 
points and illustrations were best suited to the spirit of the hour, 
how serious he might be, how strong and open his appeal ; it may 
be that with his experience he trusted in part to the moment for 
the phrasing of his thoughts. But as to what he wished to do 
and what means he had to use, he was no doubt clear in advance. 
In the second place, Grady had been thinking, writing and speak- 
ing on his subject all his life. It was the one topic to dominate 
the thought of a man of his temperament and generation in the 
South. His position as editor of an influential Southern daily also 
kept him discussing this theme. 

It is true that speakers unprepared may sometimes 
have brilliant inspirations, just as one may sometimes 
find gold when only out for a walk ; but usually inspira- 
tions come to those who make ready for them. They are 
the product of preparation. We find on investigation 
that most of the stories of unprepared successes are apoc- 
ryphal. They are like the stories of the brilliant passing 
of examinations without preparation. The thing is 
done; but nine stories out of ten are, not to be harsh, 
brag, and the other case is not a safe precedent for the 
average student. 

Granted that the foregoing suggestions cannot be car- 
ried out ideally in all cases, still it is better to know what 
can be done, in order that we may work wisely and not 
fail to work for lack of knowledge of something to do. 
After all, much can be done even in a short time, by 
working on the right lines. We may not be able to be- 
come specialists on all our themes, though that would be 
desirable ; yet we may approach the specialist in having 
a considerable body of knowledge and in having this 
well analyzed and synthesized. We should note, too, 
that it is better to make a few good speeches than many 



92 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

poor ones. If we cannot have some degree of mastery 
of our topics, we had better keep still. 

There are several encouraging features. In the first 
place, the class of speakers for whom this book is written, 
having lived a considerable number of years, should not 
be entirely empty-headed or without experience. They 
should begin with their established interests, the things 
they know about. To return to Lincoln, Americans of 
college age should know a good deal of American history, 
should understand something of the great struggle be- 
tween the North and the South, and they should know a 
good deal about Lincoln. So they should have a pretty 
good foundation to build upon. Unfortunately many 
college students have very little historical knowledge; 
but there are thousands of good subjects, and many of 
these are very close to the interests of young men. Gen- 
erally the topic one does know about and is interested in, 
or some offshoot of it, w^ill serve for a speech. (See 
chapter on Selecting the Subject.) 

But, as was said before, even if one must take a theme 
for which he has little foundation, still the case is not 
hopeless. One should in any case choose a subject worth 
thorough study for its own sake, and thus secure a double 
return for the work done. This does not mean the sub- 
ject must have to do with the foundations of the earth; 
but still it should be something one will be glad to know 
about later. 

Another encouraging circumstance is that not every 
speech need be made in a new field. Any subject has 
many phases, any one of which is likely to prove more 
than sufficient for a speech, provided the speaker is well 
informed. The desire to range superficially all over a 
large subject is evidence of ignorance. Having spoken on 
one phase of a subject, next time the speaker may take 



THE SPEAKER'S ATTENTION 93 

another phase of the same subject, and he will find that 
the previous study proves helpful. Knowledge, mastery 
and interest will grow ; the speeches will be better and the 
incidental culture greater than if one touches superficially 
many fields. This presumes, of course, that the speaker 
will make real progress each time he speaks, and not go 
on repeating on the basis of his first preparation. A man 
may do a great deal of speaking throughout a long career, 
without tiresome repetition, yet use but few themes and 
those related. Nearly all that Webster said in his many 
speeches, if we except those incidental to his law practice 
and the routine business of the Senate, and including 
much in those, could be grouped around one theme, The 
Constitution. A man gains more reputation and pro- 
duces more effect by limiting his range. 

On the platform. So far we have dealt with prepara- 
tion, though the effect upon delivery has been one of the 
objects in view. When preparation is right, the prospect 
for good delivery is encouraging. It has become possible, 
even probable. It is nearly always true in speaking that, 
in the phrase quoted from Helmholtz, ''other powerful 
impressions are attracting us away." The clearer our 
understanding and the stronger the hold of our ideas on 
our attention, the easier it is to think on our feet and to 
speak our words with full and definite ''consciousness of 
meaning." Stage fright is far less likely to attack one 
whose thought is clear and vivid and based upon ample 
foundations. While the preparation urged in this chap- 
ter does not insure "talking with the audience," yet a 
well developed interest and the feeling of having some- 
thing to say, are likely to create a strong desire to reach 
one's hearers. 

Imagery during delivery. Just how much imagery 
there should be in a speaker's mind during delivery, no 



94 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

one can say ; but we can say that, while imagery should 
not be forced, it should be encouraged for the sake of 
added vividness. If the sentences deal with objective 
realities, persons, objects, events, then a great deal of 
imagery should be present; for one can surely describe 
better to others what he himself images. Moreover, ab- 
stractions can be translated into concrete forms, and this 
translation is often needed. Such a sentence as this 
from Carlyle (see selection at end of Chapter XIV, en- 
titled Await the Issue), ^^One strong thing I find here 
below, the just thing, the true thing,'' may need some 
image like that of a rock defying the sea, in order that 
the speaker may get the feeling of assured strength that 
the sentence contains,~the same effect we get from an 
expressed metaphor. Imagery enhances feeling. Of 
course, much that has come into mind during preparation 
must drop out, having served its purpose of putting 
meaning and feeling into our ideas and words. There 
should be no attempt to force the mind as one speaks to 
form some particular image, unless for the purpose of 
accurate description. The mind should be left as free as 
circumstances permit ; but if in preparation the ^ thought 
movement" has been gone through repeatedly, with ap- 
propriate and helpful imagery encouraged and inappro- 
priate and distracting imagery inhibited, imagination 
will tend to be helpfully active during delivery, especially 
if the speaker is duly deliberate. In practice speaking 
before public appearance, one may well definitely strive 
for the formation of distinct and appropriate mental 
imagery. 

Staleness. "When one has to repeat a speech several 
times, he should find it growing in interest and improv- 
ing in expression. This will be true if his knowledge 
grows and his thinking continues. But if one does find 



THE SPEAKER'S ATTENTION 95 

himself stale, the best way to freshen interest is to repeat 
the steps of the original preparation, going over the 
data, the analyses, the concrete situations, utilizing 
imagination; and also finding new data, new illustra- 
tions, new applications, combining the new with the old 
and doing more thinking. Very easily this could be done 
to-day with speeches on peace and war. Often it is 
best to prepare a new speech, approaching the subject 
from a new angle, and thus avoiding the dangers of new 
wine in old bottles and new patches on old cloth. The 
process will compel fresh thinking, and that is what is 
needed. 

Often a student in preparing for a speaking contest begins to 
lose interest in his speech. He is sure to do so if his preparation 
has not been genuine, if it has been too much a matter of form and 
is not based on conviction. The standard prescription is : Go fill 
yourself with the subject ; read about it, talk about it with those 
who know; forget your speech and ponder your subject until you 
really want to speak because you have a message. If the speech 
will not bear this treatment, or if the student is not capable of 
following the advice, his case is hopeless ; though he may make a 
very pretty speech. 

Conclusion. In this and in the preceding chapter I 
have put great stress upon a truism, — ^that a speaker 
should have a mastery of his subject before he speaks. 
Perhaps as an abstract proposition, few would question 
this truth ; but practically the need for emphasis is great. 
Truisms often suffer neglect. There are a few whose am- 
bition it is to succeed in public speaking by mere tricks 
of delivery and a few smart sayings. There are many 
who, though sincere, yet do practically ignore the truism, 
through both indolence and training. From the lower 
grades up, they have been copying matter from books, 
with a little condensing and rearranging, but with little 
assimilation, and handing it in to satisfy the unceasing 



96 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

demand for compositions and ^^ papers." The emphasis 
here put upon the principles and methods of preparation 
is due to long experience in attempting to teach college 
students to speak in an interesting, effective and sincere 
way. 



CHAPTER V 

EMOTION 

We should now give special attention to a subject that 
is much involved in Chapters III and IV ; that is, feeling 
or emotion. For our purposes we may disregard the 
psychologist's distinction between these words. 

Importance of emotion. One often meets a prejudice 
against the very words feeling and emotion. This is due 
in part to a misuse of them. The prejudice is often 
really against excessive emotion, against control by emo- 
tion in defiance of reason, or against the over-free ex- 
pression of emotion. Perhaps a better word to express 
the thing objected to is sentimentality. Emotion is a 
constant factor in our mental states, unless we reach 
absolute indifference. To be without emotion, indeed, is 
to be without interest, without happiness as well as with- 
out sorrow, without desires good or bad. Even our rea- 
sons are usually emotions. Whether we act for the sake 
of ^^fat" war contracts or for love of country, whether 
we seek selfish pleasure or die for a friend, whether we 
decide for "3, short life and a merry one" or for a 
moral, temperate career, and whether we do our work 
or go to the game, — in all cases we act, if we are acting 
beyond the range of habit, under the control of emotion. 
It makes no difference that we may call our emotion a 
reason or a motive. Even the man who prides himself 
most on living the life of reason must, if he be a true 
philosopher, be led by one master emotion, — love of 

97 



98 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

truth. We should fix in our minds the fact that emo- 
tion, as such, is neither good nor bad ; that a particular 
emotion may be good or bad. Also, emotions may be 
violent, moderate, or weak in their expression. The man 
who loses himself in the study of minerals may be as 
truly emotional as one who cheers for Alma Mater. 
Emotion has no necessary relation to either whoops or 
tears. 

Emotion and sincerity. To say the speaker should feel 
as well as think, is not to say that he must be senti- 
mental, or speak with ^^ tears in his voice," or exhibit 
any extreme whatever, except in the rare instances when 
extreme expression is the fitting response to the ideas 
expressed and the situation faced. On the other hand, 
when a speaker represses himself for fear of being insin- 
cere, he forgets that the pretense of indifference is no 
less insincere than the pretense of feeling. We should 
not only mean what we say, but say what we mean ; and 
this includes emotion as well as thought. Sincerity de- 
mands responsiveness to the moods and feelings ex- 
pressed. It does not ordinarily demand excitement in 
expression, for ordinarily one is not expressing excite- 
ment. Sincerity is usually calm though earnest; but 
there are times when calmness is the worst of affectations. 
Self-control is good and necessary ; but indifference and 
repression are not only insincere, they mean failure as 
a speaker. Even though the subject-matter be as cold 
as a demonstration in geometry, the speaker should not 
be indifferent. There is always at least one appropriate 
emotion, — the desire to reach one's hearers. In the na- 
ture of things, few speeches are cold ; they deal for the 
most part with warm human interests and range through 
the whole gamut of emotions. 

Emotion necessary to the speaker. A speaker should 



EMOTION 99 

feel what he says, not only to be sincere, but also to be 
effective. It is one of the oldest of truisms that if we 
wish to make others feel, we ourselves must feel. And 
it is frequently important to a speaker that he should 
make others feel, make them care about the causes he 
presents and desire the end he seeks. We know we do 
not respond with enthusiasm to an advocate who lacks 
enthusiasm. And quite apart from response, we do not 
like speakers who do not seem to care. We like the man 
who means what he says. 

Emotion not to be assumed. It may be that some actors 
go through their parts cold ; and we may even admire 
the more their consummate skill. But a speaker is not 
an actor ; he is not playing a part. He is expressing him- 
self ; and the suspicion that he does not care about what 
he is saying, that he is not sincere, is fatal to his influ- 
ence. And if a speaker is not sincere, he is almost sure 
to betray himself. There are subtle effects upon voice, 
the tones and the accent, which only the most skilled 
actor can control, but which the simplest man can feel. 
There is a man, rather prominent in public life for many 
years, who is called a great orator. Nature gave him a 
voice of such quality that his mere ^^ Ladies and Gentle- 
men" sends a thrill through his hearers. He has held 
many an audience spellbound for hours; yet his influ- 
ence has been notably small. It has rapidly dwindled 
as his reputation for insincerity has grown; for even 
though one may trick an audience once or twice, he 
cannot continue to deceive. For the average speaker, 
lacking a high degree of skill, deception is impossible. 

It is true that we sometimes hear men delivering with seeming 
earnestness, truths with which their practice does not square ; but 
the contradiction is more apparent than real. Men often do believe 
earnestly in virtues which they do not practise. The drunkard, 
when sobered up, believes, and no one has better reasons for be- 



100 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

lieving, in the virtue of temperance. Men rarely speak with a 
tone of conviction without, at least for the time being, believing 
what they say. Of course, no intelligent hearer is deceived by 
mere loudness of tone, redness of face, or extravagance of gesture. 
And, of course, no honest man will desire to gain the skill to de- 
ceive successfully. 

Can a speaker command his feelings? Feelings are 
most difficult of control. They will not bear watching; 
nor can they be commanded in the sense that one can say, 
* ^ Go to, now, this is a patriotic occasion ; I will therefore 
feel patriotic ! ' ' What then is the speaker 's case ? Must 
he wait till feeling comes along to move him out of his 
indifference ? This would do, perhaps, if he could speak 
always on great occasions, or before inspiring audiences ; 
but he cannot. Nor does he speak just when he feels 
like it; but most often on some conventional occasion, 
often without any inspiration, without any initial in- 
spiration, at any rate, from occasion or audience. He 
looks into faces which at best express only mild curiosity. 
Consider the faces with that ^ ' do-your-duty-and-go-to- 
church" expression which the average preacher has to 
confront. On most occasions, if there is to be life, inter- 
est and enthusiasm, the speaker must arouse them. 
There are, of course, audiences and occasions which 
stimulate the speaker, t)ut these are the exceptions. 
Again, while the speaker usually does well to begin 
quietly, still he must be thoroughly alert and prepared in 
spirit at the start ; he cannot afford to waste the initial 
interest of his hearers. What, then, can he do to prepare 
himself emotionally for his address ? 

He can refrain from repressing his feelings. Many a 
young speaker will find by introspection that by a feigned 
indifference, assumed to cover embarrassment or because 
of a foolish fear of being thought to ^'put on," or by a 
habit of repression, he is actually killing off his emotions. 



EMOTION 101 

Express emotion and it grows; repress it and it dies. 

He can positively encourage emotion: by physical 
means. Instead of repressing his tendencies to feeling, 
the speaker should arouse himself, throw off the air of 
indifference and take on alertness. ^'Setting-up exer- 
cises," and especially deep breathing, give a good start. 
Physical earnestness is an important condition of mental 
earnestness. This is beyond dispute. 

The James-Lange theory of emotions. The statements 
of the two preceding paragraphs find support in the 
theory which holds that ''the feeling, in the coarser emo- 
tions, results from the bodily expression.'' To quote 
Professor James : ^ — 

"Common-sense says, we lose our fortune, are sorry 
and weep ; we meet a bear, are frightened and run ; we 
are insulted by a rival, are angry and strike. . . . The 
more rational statement is that we feel sorry because we 
cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble. 
. . . Stated in this crude way, the hypothesis is pretty 
sure to meet with immediate disbelief. ' ' 

But Professor James proceeds to give an argument, 
too long and technical to be quoted here, which has 
convinced many. The theory that the emotion is 
"nothing but the feeling of a bodily state, and it has a 
purely bodily cause," is difficult to demonstrate by ex- 
periment; for 2 "the immense number of parts modified 
. . . makes it so difficult for us to reproduce in cold blood 
the total and integral expression of any one emotion. 
We may catch it with the voluntary muscles, but fail 
with the skin, glands, heart, and other viscera." Now, 
if the theory be true, a corollary should be that any vol- 
untary manifestation of an emotion should give us the 
emotion itself. 

1 Briefer Course, p. 375. 2 Idem, p. 378. 



102 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

^ *' Everybody knows how panic is increased by flight, 
and how the giving away to the symptoms of grief or 
anger increases the passions themselves. ... In rage, it 
is notorious how we ^work ourselves up' to a climax by 
repeated outbursts of expression. Refuse to express the 
passion and it dies. Count ten before venting your 
anger, and its occasion seems ridiculous. Whistling to 
keep up courage is no mere figure of speech. On the 
other hand, sit all day in a moping posture, sigh, and 
reply to everything with a dismal voice, and your melan- 
choly lingers. There is no more valuable precept in 
moral education than this, as all who have experience 
know ; if we wish to conquer undesirable emotional tend- 
encies in ourselves, we must assiduously, and in the first 
instance cold-bloodedly, go through the outward move- 
ments of those contrary dispositions which we prefer to 
cultivate. The reward of persistency will infallibly 
come, in the fading out of the sullenness or depression, 
and the advent of real cheerfulness and kindliness in 
their stead. Smooth the brow, brighten the eye, contract 
the dorsal rather than the ventral aspect of the frame, 
and speak in a major key, pass the genial compliment, 
and your heart must be frigid indeed if it do not gradu- 
ally thaw. ' ' 

Did you never begin to speak mildly your displeasure, and sud- 
denly flame out into denunciation ; or to express approval and find 
yourself running into extravagant praise? "I didn't mean to say 
all that," you explain ruefully, "but my tongue ran away with 
me." And do we not all know how laughing freely increases one's 
sense of humor? 

It should be said that this theory of emotion has not 
been generally accepted in its entirety, though most 
psychologists admit it contains a large measure of truth. 
It undoubtedly contains an important suggestion for us, 
seen especially in the last quotation from James. We 
have some control over our feelings, in a physical way; 
we can at least prepare for them and encourage them. 

1 Briefer Course, p. 382. 



EMOTION 103 

Action and expression increase emotion. Act bold and 
we shall tend to feel bold; act interested and we sliall 
tend to feel interested. But perhaps the most valuable 
lesson we can draw from our consideration of the relation 
of action and bearing to emotion, is just this : By means 
largely physical one can bring himself out of indifference 
and establish a mood of alertness and responsiveness to 
the emotions of one's speech. 

The speaker can develop emotion from ideas. Having 
gained a valuable suggestion from the James-Lange the- 
ory of emotion, we are still glad we do not have to accept 
it fully, but may retain our belief that emotions spring 
directly from perceptions and ideas. To what extent 
these may arouse emotions in a given instance, depends 
of course upon what they are, upon what we are and 
upon how they are related to our experiences; and also 
upon how vivid, recent and oft repeated these experi- 
ences have been, and upon the way in which the ideas are 
presented to our minds. The more concrete their presen- 
tation and the more vivid their imagery, the more ideas 
tend to arouse emotion. In other words, emotion will be 
the natural result of much of the work urged in the two 
preceding chapters, which might well be reviewed at this 
point with the thought of emotion in mind. 

The term associations will prove useful in this connec- 
tion. We may say that the feeling which is aroused by a 
word or an idea depends greatly upon the associations 
one's mind has for it; upon what has been attached to it 
by observation, study and experience. Some, flag and 
mother are examples of words notably strong in emo- 
tional associations and therefore tending to arouse vivid 
imagery and strong feeling. It is evidence of their force 
that the words instanced are greatly overworked for the 
purpose of evoking feeling. 



104 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

It should be plain from the preceding chapters that we 
are not limited to actual experience for associations. To 
the youth who has lived the ordinary protected life, the 
idea of justice has little emotional significance. He will 
tell you he knows what it means, that he believes in jus- 
tice for all, he will readily subscribe to any maxim about 
justice ; yet the idea has little meaning for him and his 
voice lacks the ring of conviction. But suppose he has 
suffered injustice, or is of a people that has suffered in- 
justice ; then the idea will possess him and he will speak 
with an accent that leaves no doubt of sincerity. I have 
in mind students from Porto Rico and the Philippines, 
who believed their countries wronged by the United 
States. But suppose, again, the youth has been stirred 
by the wrongs of others and has fought for justice to an 
individual or a class : then also the idea may command 
him. Or, again, let us suppose he has read history until 
the long struggle for human rights has become real to 
him : then, again, though the interest may not be so keen 
and enduring, it may still be commanding. 

What to do. Go over the thought material of which 
your speech is composed, considering the importance of 
the issues involved, their practical bearings, illustrations 
from history and experience, especially those warm with 
human interest ; bring the matter home to yourself in the 
most familiar and intimate way. Imagination has a 
great part to play here ; for it is the spring of sympathy, 
— the means of ^^ putting yourself in the other fellow's 
place. ' ' By means of visual, auditory and motor imagery 
put yourself into the very situation discussed, and you 
will feel the struggle, the triumph, or whatever emotion 
the situation contains. In general, do the work outlined 
in the preceding chapter. 

Analysis and feeling. It is desirable that there should 



EMOTION 105 

be some interval between the analytic part of one 's prep- 
aration and the delivery of the speech. The analytic 
frame of mind is cold, for analysis is largely a process of 
abstraction; and abstraction has as little as possible to 
do with words of vivid imagery and emotional associa- 
tion. The speaker should be able to make a cold, clear 
analysis of his subject; but he should pass from this 
stage of work to another in which he feels as well as un- 
derstands his ideas. 

The time element. In considering feeling we are again 
impressed with the need of taking time in preparation. 
Feeling is not to be coerced ; it is to be developed from 
the thought as it is worked over and assimilated. Only 
through assimilation can there be genuine feeling, with 
the requisite self-forgetfulness and abandon. When a 
man speaks out of earnest feeling without prolonged 
special preparation, as in the case of Grady referred to 
in the preceding chapter, it will be found that back of 
the speech lies long experience. 

Balance of thought and feeling. A speaker who makes 
his study of Lincoln, arbitration, or the *^ honor system,'' 
in the ways before urged, will not lack sincere feeling. 
At the same time, since the work outlined will give grasp 
of his subject, he will not be unduly swayed by feeling. 
The ideal condition of the speaker demands strong feel- 
ing controlled by clear thinking. But this is the condi- 
tion which makes a man strong in all sorts of activities, — 
feeling for motive power, thought to control and direct. 
The mental machine is useless if either is lacking. 

The hours immediately preceding delivery. When a 
speaker is to make an ^^ effort," he should take pains to 
come upon the platform physically and mentally fit. 
He should, if possible, have a pleasant restful day, with 
enough occupation to keep him from worrying. He 



106 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

should not tire himself with a great deal of exercise. 
Well-meaning friends and committeemen who may wish 
to entertain with sight-seeing or heavy dinners, should 
be firmly discouraged. Each speaker should learn, by 
observing his experience, what course of action is best 
calculated to being him on the platform with energy on 
tap and nerves at peace; and to avoid whatever in the 
way of eating, drinking, or smoking is likely to make 
his mind sluggish or his voice husky. It is generally 
best to avoid eating within two hours of the time of 
speaking. 

Some will find it to their advantage to spend the time 
immediately preceding the speech, say the last hour, in 
special preparation. They may need to bring themselves 
to physical alertness, to gain poise and command. Exer- 
cises will aid in this ; and especially deep-breathing exer- 
cises will do much to check nervousness (for they demand 
good control of the nerves), to relieve throat constric- 
tion and to help the speaker ^^find his voice." Such 
exercises take a speaker's mind off his worries, if he has 
any. Nervousness over speaking is not due so much to 
the fact that public speaking is such a fearsome thing in 
itself, as to worry about it. It is not desirable, however, 
that a speaker should be as cool as the proverbial cucum- 
ber; only that the necessary nervous tension should not 
be so great as to destroy self-control. And here we may 
make another application of the James-Lange theory: 
Let a man act as if he were courageous, alert, at ease, 
and he will tend to feel so. 

Often it is best to keep one's mind off one's speech 
during the day it is to be delivered ; and in particular to 
avoid fussing over its structure and wording. At times, 
it is helpful to read and think on the subject, ^^ pumping 
one's self full of it." This presumes, of course, that 



EMOTION 107 

preparation has been completed. Shortly before speak- 
ing it may be a relief to run over the thought of one's 
speech to assure one's self that it is clearly in mind and 
to get into its mood. The conclusions and purposes of 
the speech should especially be considered to guard 
against yielding overmuch to the superficial aspects of 
the occasion. 

A colored student preparing to take part in a speaking contest, 
with a speech which was a plea for equal opportunity, kept saying, 
"I am not out for the prize; I am going to speak for my people." 
And he did, with great force and sincerity. 

Obviously there will be many circumstances under 
which some of the foregoing suggestions will be useless, 
or even unwise. But it is not unwise to take note of the 
fact that just as the athlete must not only know his game, 
but must come on the field in fit condition, so should the 
speaker not only know his subject, but also come upon 
the platform in condition to do his best. 

Emotional drifting during delivery. By drifting is 
meant continuing in one mood regardless of the character 
of the ideas expressed. The effect is as incongruous and 
monotonous as that produced by a certain fiddler who 
played always on one string. Many a speaker needs to 
guard against working liimself into a strained, excited 
mood in which he gives neither himself nor his audience 
relief. The resulting monotony is as truly monotony 
as that of one who never warms up, or one who speaks 
always in a gently complaining mood. I have in mind a 
preacher of some note who, about five minutes from the 
end of his sermons, invariably drops into a low, sup- 
posedly solemn tone of exhortation, and this quite re- 
gardless of the character of his concluding remarks. 
Such habits are easily acquired, especially when one 
speaks often under the same circumstances. All such 



IDS PUBLIC SPEAKING 

tendencies are to be fought by keeping constantly alert 
on the platform. It is also well for a speaker to watch 
his speeches to see that he does not encourage such habits 
by writing always in one vein. If he extemporizes much 
the danger of following habit is still greater; and he 
should either occasionally write a speech or have a 
stenographer reveal to him his tendencies. 

Emotion of the audience. Tte treatment of this topic will be 
reserved for the chapters which deal with interesting, persuading 
and convincing audiences. The emotion of the speaker will also 
receive further treatment in those chapters. 

Gesture. It will be well, at this point, to take up the first part 
of the chapter on gesture (so far as the "Second Stage of Gesture 
Training"). The subject is closely related to emotion. 



CHAPTER VI 

ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE — INTEREST 

Turning now to the more definite consideration of 
audiences and the adaptation of speeches to their needs 
and capacities, we shall, in great part, be developing and 
re-applying principles already familiar in the preceding 
pages. Plainly enough, in dealing with audiences inter- 
est and attention are of primary importance; yet you 
may be surprised to learn how constantly these are the 
major considerations. 

No classification of topics in this discussion seems 
entirely satisfactory; but we shall find most helpful an 
analysis based upon the speaker's purposes. A sufficient 
reason is the opportunity this analysis offers for empha- 
sizing the fact that speakers have purposes. 

Importance of considering the speaker's purposes. 
Much poor work is done because the real purposes of 
public speech are forgotten, while primary stress is placed 
upon form. Form needs attention, but it can be safely 
studied only in subordination to purpose. Strange as it 
may seem, the audience is often forgotten. The results 
are affectation and ineffectiveness. We must think of 
form always as a means to an end, — ^the impression de- 
sired upon the audience. 

But the trouble does not always arise from too much 
attention to form; it may exist together with too great 
indifference to form. Self-centeredness is perhaps the 
chief reason for indifference to audiences. One who has 

109 



no PUBLIC SPEAKING 

occasion to observe is often astounded at the indifference 
of speakers to the thoughts and feelings of their hearers. 
Presumably these speakers have a hazy purpose; but 
completely wrapped up in their own processes, intolerant 
of the opinions of others, lacking sufficient imagination 
for a sympathetic understanding of the kinds and condi- 
tions of men and of the motives which move them, they 
go their own way unaware of response or lack of response. 
Sometimes we say their speeches '^ smell of the lamp," 
but the trouble is not that they have studied, but that they 
have failed to prepare with definite purposes and audi- 
ences in mind. If a speaker keeps clearly in mind that 
he is going before a certain kind of audience to seek cer- 
tain results, the chances are good that he will make a 
proper selection and arrangement of material, adopt a 
style of composition suitable for the platform and speak 
in a direct manner. 

The young speaker should take this exhortation to mind his 
audience very seriously. He is prone to think that his hearers 
will understand whatever he says, however complicated ; that they 
have no emotions, and that they will attend simply because he 
speaks. He rarely considers the best method of approach or of 
awakening interest. From the very first he should treat his class, 
if he is in a class, as a real audience, to be interested, convinced 
and persuaded; and the class should listen as a real audience, not 
as a body of critics. The student should also embrace opportuni- 
ties to speak before other audiences, where the thought of manner 
will not be so prominent and where he may have a more real pur- 
pose to accomplish. 

There may be some with an almost instinctive knowledge of the 
nature of audiences. These, if sufficiently endowed otherwise, are 
the "born orators." But most of us need to work out of our em- 
barrassment, our self-centeredness and our false notions, till there 
some day comes to us a sense of what speaking really means. Then 
by study of human nature and by practice, we may learn to in- 
fluence audiences. If through plenitude of endowment, persistent 
labor and right opportunity, we come to master audiences, we shall 
be orators. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 111 

What the speaker's purposes are. I shall consider the 
speaker's purposes to be: 1. To interest ^ 2. To make 
clear, 3. To induce belief, 4. To influence conduct. Now 
any one of these purposes may be a speaker's final object 
on a given occasion; or may be a subsidiary purpose, a 
means to another end. Thus interest and clearness must 
be sought in any speech. In many instances belief must 
be won before conduct can be affected, and we shall find 
that in most cases the processes by which conduct is af- 
fected must be employed before belief is established. 
Again, exposition and argument may be employed to in- 
terest. 

Interesting an audience. It seems strange that there 
is need of putting stress upon the necessity of interesting 
our audiences; yet we well know how common it is in 
conversation to talk on about our affairs, our ideas, our 
stupid adventures, our smart children, calmly ignoring 
the yawns of our hearers. This may explain why a stu- 
dent speaker will expound in detail before a class of 
juniors the peculiar advantages accruing to freshmen 
from subscribing to the college daily. 

An audience always holds it a natural right to be inter- 
ested; often it asks nothing more. The speaker himself 
may at times have no purpose beyond interesting; that 
is, entertainment.^ More often the speaker has a pur- 
pose beyond this; but the demand for interest he must 
satisfy, for he must have attention. A ^'polite hearing" 
is rarely genuine ; and very few members of the average 
audience will listen by sheer will power, nor is it desir- 

1 Entertainment has been made one of the general ends, and is an 
end proper enough. Phillips, who makes this classification (Effec- 
tive Speaking, p. 63), treats it only with the ''factors of interesting- 
ness." Interest is, of course, a much larger thing than entertain- 
ment. When we are interested in a pleasant way, with no serious 
purpose impressed upon us, we say we are entertained; but we may 
be interested in the most serious, even unpleasant, things. 



112 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

able that they should. Applying Herbert Spencer's 
principle, ^^ economy of attention/' a speaker should aim 
to hold his hearers with a minimum of effort on their 
part ; for whatever energy goes into mere effort to attend 
is lost to consideration of the subject-matter. 

Another reason for seeking to interest is that few speakers are 
able to go energetically through a speech without evidences of re- 
sponse from their audience. Without such evidence one feels a 
great load on his spirits. It is sometimes worth while to take 
pains to interest a single person in order to have his sympathetic 
following; but unless a speaker has a majority of his audience fol- 
lowing with easy attention, he cannot often do well. When prac- 
tically the whole audience listens with keen interest he is drawn 
out in a wonderful way. Then he has "liberty." 

There are times when the speaker has the advantage of 
an aroused interest in his audience. There are times 
when he can rely on this interest, even abuse it ; but such 
times are rare, and even strong initial interest is usually 
easily lost. I have seen 2000 eager listeners, come to- 
gether to hear a potential presidential candidate, bored 
into helpless irritation by an inept address. The young 
speaker will find few occasions indeed when he can safely 
ignore the means of interesting. 

The speaker standing before his audience faces a very 
practical problem : How can he gain and hold atten- 
tion? No matter how noble his purpose, how splendid 
his rhetoric, how sound his arguments, if he is not listened 
to. There they sit, his potential hearers; presumably 
most of them are willing to be interested: but unless 
they are interested, they will think of their own affairs, 
sink into bored endurance, or become restless. The 
speaker must grip their attention, right at the start, and 
he must hold it. 

How can attention be won ? In the first place, it does 
little good to tell one's audience that the theme is inter- 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 113 

esting. Young speakers are constantly defending their 
dull efforts with, ' ' They ought to be interested in that ' ' ; 
but the question remains, Are they interested ? Is it only 
the speaker of high prestige with his audience who can 
depend upon the assertion of interest, even for initial 
attention. 

We see at once that the question, What does interest 
audiences, is too complicated for brief and final answer. 
We can, nevertheless, establish a few principles and be- 
come intelligent in applying them to different situations. 
The most obvious suggestion is that we should have some- 
thing to say worth saying; something not necessarily of 
vital importance, but at least worth considering for a 
few moments. The occasions are but few when audi- 
ences are willing to listen to sheer nonsense. 

Fundamental interests. Certain interests common to 
most men, may be noted. Wlien we speak of a man's 
interests we mean those things to which he gives his time, 
thought and labor ; not merely those things directly nec- 
essary to existence and success, but also those which give 
him pleasure, or otherwise enlist his emotions. We put 
first life and health. The vast deal of matter printed 
nowadays on health presumably supplies a demand. But 
it is probable that men in general are more willing to give 
attention to the acquirement of property than to prolong- 
ing life. The pocket-book interest is one of the surest to 
which a theme can be linked. This interest is not limited 
to one's own pocket-book, but extends to all business. 
Witness the number of business stories in popular peri- 
odicals. 

Men generally are interested in the means of acquiring 
power and reputation. But there are some who are still 
more interested in what pertains to honor, to social wel- 
fare, to the good of country and to righteousness, and to 



114 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

other so-called sentiments. Again, men are interested in 
what touches their affections, as the education of their 
children. They are interested in all that gives them 
pleasure, as sports, music, drama, literature. In short, 
men are interested in whatever they are interested in, 
whatever arouses emotion; and the most valuable sug- 
gestion is one which will grow increasingly familiar; 
study human nature, study your audience. The chief 
use of such an incomplete list as the above, is to impress 
upon the self -centered speaker the truth that men are 
many-sided in their interests.^ 

The human interest^ Carlyle says: '^Man is peren- 
nially interesting to man; nay, if we look strictly to it, 
there is nothing else interesting." Terence, the old 
Roman playwright, brought forth thunderous applause 
with his line, '^I am a man, and all human affairs are of 
interest to me. ' ' The interest of humanity pervades, of 
course, history, fiction, drama, social science, and many 
another interest ; but still it is well to note that there is a 
strong interest in just ^^ folks," — men, women, children 
and babies. Personality is always interesting. So a 
speaker may find it of advantage to throw his material 
into terms of persons, persons with names and character- 
istics. Hitch your cause to the man who represents it. 
A newspaper man of wide opportunity for observation, 
recently declared that the public is never interested in 
reform, but in its heroes and especially in its villains. 
Elihu Root has said, ^^It seems sometimes as if our people 
were interested in nothing but personalities, and that we 
wanted a government of men and not a government of 
laws. ' ' 

Consideration of these fundamental interests does not 

1 Tliose familiar with Phillips' Effective Speaking will see that I 
have drawn here upon his Impelling Motives. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 115 

carry us far ; for we see that what will, in a given case, be 
interesting, will depend much upon audience and occa- 
sion and how and by whom the matter is presented. 

Differences in groups. No one is likely to overlook the 
fact that a group of farmers may be interested in topics 
very dull to laboring men, and that both farmers and 
laborers may be interested in themes which will not touch 
a body of artists ; but there are less noticeable diver- 
gencies which are no less important. One may sometimes 
hear city men talking to farmers on the assumption that 
all farmers are alike ; yet fruit farmers may take no more 
interest than do artists in the tariff on wool. Speakers 
coming to our universities may be heard making painful 
efforts at classical allusions before engineering colleges. 
The obvious means of safety is to know your audience, its 
interests, its information and its habits of thought. 

I referred just now to a presidential possibility who bored an 
eager audience. We had gone to hear him because we wished to 
know what manner of man he was, what his opinions and his 
tendencies were. He chose to read to us a dry, impersonal survey 
of the origins of the common law, without an attempt to link this 
history to the present day. It was, he explained, a paper he had 
prepared for a law school lecture. It may have been adapted to 
a convention of legal historians. 

One reason for Mr. Roosevelt's success with audiences lies in 
his varied career, as son of an old New York family, Harvard 
student, politician, cowboy, historian, naturalist, hunter, traveler, 
rough rider, police commissioner, president and one forgets what 
else, — all giving him intimate knowledge of many kinds of peo- 
ple, of how they think, what their associations are, and what al- 
lusions and illustrations will appeal to them. 

Variations of the same group. At one time an audience 
of laboring men may be chiefly interested in a great rail- 
way strike, again in the doings of the I. W. W., again in 
socialism, or the open shop. I do not mean to suggest 
that a speaker should always address his hearers on their 



116 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

supreme interest of the moment ; but only that he should 
be alert to the possibilities arising from special occasions 
and occurrences. A group may have also great varia- 
tions of mood} A body of economists in convention as- 
sembled may in the morning wish to hear discussions of 
taxation ; in the evening at a banquet they may resent a 
heavy discussion. Ministers do not always wish to think 
of their duties; and college students may at times wish 
to hear of something other than athletics. Attention is 
caught by objects and ideas congruous with our present 
mood, be it sad, gay, business-like, critical, or what not? 

The speaker's relation to audience, occasion and theme. 
The audience may wish to hear a speaker upon a certain 
theme because of some special advantage he possesses, as 
having taken part in the movement he discusses. Almost 
any audience would like to hear Peary or Amundsen de- 
scribe their polar explorations, and yet might be greatly 
bored to hear one with no record of achievement speaking 
on the same subject, although he were well informed and 
actually giving a better lecture. Cornellians would not 
care to hear a freshman speak on the beginnings of the 
University ; but they would like very much to hear Cor- 
neirs first president, Andrew D. White, tell of events of 
which he might use the words of ^neas, ''All of which 
I saw and part of which I was. ' ' 

A speaker should beware of attempting to discuss a 
subject of which he has little knowledge before a body of 
experts. If you have to give an address of welcome to a 

1 Those who wish a scientific starting point for study may take 
this from Pillsbury, Attention, p. 52 : "The conditions of any act 
of attention are to be found in the present environment (objective 
conditions) and in the past experiences of the individual (subjective 
conditions). The main objective conditions are the intensity, ex- 
tent, and duration of the stimulus. The subjective conditions are 
to be found in the idea in the mind at the time, in the mood of the 
moment, the education, previous social environment, and heredity 
of the individual." 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 117 

convention of specialists, keep on safe ground. Do not 
think to make a hit by reading up in an encyclopedia. 
Probably what you read is to them exploded doctrine ; at 
any rate you are sure to expose your ignorance. Painful 
also are those attempts to retail the history of a town to 
its inhabitants. Even if the speaker knows the facts 
better than the inhabitants, still they may not wish to 
hear them from a stranger, though they may relish refer- 
ences which show that the speaker knows something of 
their history. In any case, the speaker does well to ask 
himself whether he is the right person to present the pro- 
posed topic, not only from the standpoint of preparation, 
but also from that of personal acceptability. A labor 
audience may not think you qualified to speak on the 
closed shop, no matter how much preparation you have ; 
and may even be prejudiced against hearing you, if, for 
example, they suspect you of hostility to unionism. 

The ag^e of a speaker is often important in the minds of 
his audience. '^The idea of that young thing trying to 
tell us how to bring up our children ! ' ' exclaim indignant 
matrons when a freshly ordained preacher essays this 
theme. There is a pride in knowing one's own affairs, or 
the affairs of one 's time, which may blind people to actual 
wisdom on the part of a speaker. 

Ringwalt i furnishes the following suggestive comment and in- 
cident : 

*'A student may be better informed on a public question than a 
congressman, but the latter will get the invitation to speak ; what 
a man may be expected to know weighs heavily. A young student 
who had gained considerable reputation as a speaker, was asked, 
with a number of distinguished men, to respond to a toast of his 
own selection at a banquet held on the birthday of Abraham Lin- 
coln. Had he chosen to speak on Lincoln's political career, he 
would have been listened to with courtesy, but, by men who knew 
from experience the facts he related from histories, hardly Tsdth 
interest. He chose rather as his subject, 'Lincoln as a Master of 
English Style,' and scored the chief success of the evening. This 

1 Modern American Oratory, p. 38. 



118 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

was the one theme about which he not only knew more than his 
hearers, but about which they all realized he could know more." 

A student friend of mine was asked to address the Grand Army 
Post in his home village on Memorial Day. I will leave to you 
the questions : What should have been his theme, and how should 
he have treated it? 

The general audience. So far we have considered spe- 
cial audiences, homogeneous groups. The interests of 
the general audience are less dependable. The more 
heterogeneous an audience, the more difficult to control 
and to ''fuse" its members into one mood. 

The preacher, for example, in his efforts to reveal the relation 
of religion to human needs, has a weekly problem hardly to be 
solved. Before him are children of very limited experience and 
understanding; people of the age of reliance on one's own strength, 
and those who have reached the stage where they feel peculiarly 
the need of support and consolation. Some preachers feel so 
keenly the disadvantage of an uninterested and restless element 
in the congregation, that they attempt a partial solution by preach- 
ing first a brief sermon to the children, who are then free to go 
home. 

To appeal to each element of a mixed audience in turn 
makes sustained interest on the part of all improbable; 
yet this is sometimes the only feasible method. Varied 
illustrations and applications may be needed to catch the 
interest, now of the business man, now of the women, 
now of the factory workers ; but all that is said should be 
at least intelligible to the great majority of those present, 
and no considerable time should pass in which any group 
is given nothing of interest. Sometimes a speaker of 
great prestige may venture to say frankly, ^^Now I wish 
the rest of you to wait while I talk to these merchants"; 
but unless the other groups can have some sympathetic 
interest in this special discussion, they will soon grow 
restless. And if the speaker be ''talking over the heads" 
of any group, resentment may be aroused. If a speaker 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 119 

in a college town especially addressed himself to the 
faculty members present, in a way which presumed them 
to be of superior intelligence, he might easily arouse the 
old town-and-gown hostility. 

Indefiniteness is not necessary. Though the appeal to 
the interest of a general audience must at times be very 
broad, still it need not be indefinite. Though one has an 
audience composed of scientists, workingmen, teachers, 
farmers, philosophers and social w^orkers, still all men are 
alike in many ways, and have in one wa}^ or another the 
same needs and the same human experiences, just as all 
catch the measles. ''The Colonel's lady and Judy 
'Grady are sisters, under their skins." The orator 
understands and shares the common human interests, 
and under all circumstances finds a common ground of 
interest and sympathy. 

The complaint is sometimes made that speakers indulge too 
much in commonplace and platitude. The charge is true, just as it 
is true of those who write and converse. But critics should not 
be too strict, in view of the necessity of finding a meeting place 
for all sorts of people. At the same time, speakers do well to re- 
lieve necessary commonplaces with freshness of form. 

In many cases, even with the most heterogeneous audi- 
ence, no preliminary search for a common ground Js 
needed; for all may be already interested in the same 
political issue, the same application of a scientific discov- 
ery, the same story of heroism, the same sanitary regu- 
lation, or the same high cost of living. I have seen an 
audience as heterogeneous as that suggested above, all 
fused into one splendid enthusiasm for the support of 
Governor Hughes of New York, in his demand that the 
state constitution should be enforced against race-track 
gambling. 

Most of the members of the usual audience have much 



120 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

in common in origin, tradition, prejudice, religion, ex- 
perience, association, politics, and general information. 
They live in the same community, or have been brought 
together by common interests, or by congeniality. They 
can be expected to recognize certain allusions, to think at 
a certain rate, to know certain facts, and to respond to 
certain appeals. One can hardly hope to reach every 
member of an audience. How far the attempt should 
be carried, to what level in one's audience and to how 
many elements a speech should be addressed, are ques- 
tions that cannot be answered except with reference to 
particular cases. 

We turn now to consider means of interesting which 
are more or less applicable to all audiences. 

Derived interest. If the principle is not fresh in your 
mind, you should turn back to Chapters III and IV, and 
especially you should re-read the quotation from James 
at p. 54. Just as teachers no longer begin geography 
with a discussion of the planetary system and gradually 
approach the child's place in it, but begin with phe- 
nomena already familiar to him, the towns, streams and 
islands he knows; so speakers should start with that 
phase of their subject already known and interesting to 
their hearers, at the point where .they ^'have something 
to attend with." If the topic does not relate itself di- 
rectly to the existing interests of your audience, then 
connecting links must be supplied. "When this is imprac- 
ticable, the topic is impracticable. It may be said, fur- 
ther, that unless a speaker has a strong reason for taking 
a topic far removed from the interests of his audience, 
the fact that he must take a considerable portion of his 
time for establishing a derived interest, will usually be a 
good reason for choosing another topic. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 121 

The illustration in Chapter IV of a man going deliberately to 
work to interest himself in Greek archeology might easily be 
turned into a problem in interesting an audience. Work this out : 
Suppose your task were to interest a group of business men in 
excavations on the sites of Egyptian cities. Could you in any 
way utilize the religious interest? Where would you begin with 
the same group in interesting them in the peace movement? 

Problems of deriving interest arise every day in a public speak- 
ing class. If one is talking of, What is the matter with the foot- 
ball team? no problem arises, but to use that sort of topic all 
the time proves limiting. A student of agriculture had some good 
ideas on the common complaint that too much time is spent upon 
teaching the theory of agriculture, and too little upon practical 
applications. Two-thirds of the class, not being students in agri- 
culture, evinced little interest. The speaker might have gained 
general interest by first taking the question up as one that arises 
in all courses, law, engineering, etc., and then proceeded to illus- 
trate with the course he knew most about. Another student of 
the same college wished to speak on the Grange ; but when asked 
the standard question, How will you interest all in that? he gave 
up. Yet there are phases of the Grange which would interest 
most of us ; the cooperative principle, for example, or the Grange 
in politics. Another wished to speak upon the growing of apples. 
He might have taken up the enormous business of marketing ap- 
ples, for business interests most students to-day ; but as he wished 
to take the technical phases, such as the composition of sprays, 
it did not seem worth while to make the far-fetched connection. 

Law students may fail to detach themselves from the law school 
atmosphere ; but one who wished to practise legal discussion suc- 
ceeded in making his talk both interesting and tangible by using 
as a basis rooming contracts, a burning issue at the time. A 
student in architecture, speaking in a class including no others 
from his college, kept up interest in his favorite theme by select- 
ing illustrations from the campus buildings. The student of chem- 
istry who started with the keen interest in automobiles carried 
us far into a discussion of substitutes for gasoline. Even the 
hackneyed subject of capital punishment may get a new lease of 
life from the case of some noted criminal about to be executed. 

Ways of deriving interest. Sometimes the existing in- 
terests of your hearers may be utilized by starting with 
one of these and leading into the desired topic, as by 
beginning with the present war and leading to interna- 



122 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

tional law, assuming that to be the topic in which you 
wish to arouse interest ; sometimes by beginning with a 
phase of one's topic which quickly shows its relation to 
an existing interest, as by taking a question of interna- 
tional law which is closely related to the war, e. g., 
blockades; and again, by one's selection of illustrations. 
By whatever method you choose to proceed, do not ask 
your audience to listen long without seeing how your 
topic is related to something they consider interesting; 
and as you proceed you should continue to link the new 
matter to that already made interesting, ''so that the 
interest, being shed along from point to point, finally 
suffuses the entire system of objects of thought." You 
may be able, also, to reach out, at various stages, and 
connect your ideas with other interests than those first 
touched. It is conceivable that in a single short speech, 
with perfect unity, you might enlist the interest which 
your hearers possess in athletics, in education, in tem- 
perance and in religion ; and the fusion of these interests 
would make a strong whole. One may think of each of 
these interests as throwing a rope to assist in mooring 
the new subject. 

Interest derived through illustrations. Examples of 
the common device of using illustrations which come 
peculiarly within the experience of one's audience, were 
given in the comments on class speeches above. A stump 
speaker addressing now farmers, now railroad men, now 
salesmen, will usually try to vary his illustrations to fit 
each group. However, we should not suppose that any 
class of people is interested only in its own specialties. 
Another warning is in order : do not try to draw illustra- 
tions from any field unless you are sure of your ground. 
Railroad men may like to hear you draw illustrations 
from their work, if you can do so easily and naturally; 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 123 

but they will be amused or bored by a strained attempt. 
Of a preacher who tried to talk to an audience of sailors 
in their own terms, one of his hearers said : ' ' There are 
two things he doesn't understand, navigation and re- 
ligion." 

Novelty and the interest of audiences. After the dis- 
cussion in Chapter III you will readily understand that 
while new things and new ideas are a source of interest, 
the strongest and most sustained interest arises from the 
union of old with new. Read again with care the quota- 
tion from Royce on p. 57 of this text, and that from 
James on p. 58. ^^The old in the new is what claims 
attention." When we present new ideas to an audience 
we should present them in such a way that their relation 
to familiar things is apparent, so that they may be com- 
pared or identified, or so that the relation of cause and 
effect or some other relation is evident; and when we 
present old matter we should give it new aspects, rela- 
tions and applications. 

A group of housewives may be interested in hearing an explana- 
tion of the familiar phenomenon of the rising of bread. I was 
much interested in learning from the speech of a student of archi- 
tecture of the considerable accomplishment of Thomas Jefferson as 
an architect ; while the student derived an interest in the statesman 
who was also an artist. 

Travel lectures have great vogue on Lyceum and Chautauqua 
platforms. They furnish a pleasant opportunity for comparing 
and contrasting, and discovering the familiar in the seemingly un- 
familiar. *'What an odd way to do !" we hear a listener say : that 
is, how different from our way of doing the same thing. *'What 
a queer-looking place in that picture ! Why, it 's a kind of store, 
isn't it? How interesting!" The following sentence, written of 
an Eastern country, illustrates the force of contrast with the fa- 
miliar : 

"It is a country where the roses have no fragrance, and women 
no petticoats ; . . . where the roads bear no vehicles, and the 
ships have no keels; where old men fly kites, . . . and the sign 
of being puzzled is to scratch the heel.'' 



124 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

The familiar- While the absolutely familiar is said to 
be uninteresting, we should note that the very familiar is 
at times welcomed. Do we not love old songs and old 
stories? The question was recently asked, Why are so 
many jokes made reflecting upon stenographers? and 
Harper's Weekly replied, ^^The world loves familiar jokes 
and familiar effects." At any rate, while I should be 
very sorry to encourage triteness, we must recognize the 
fact that there are times when people like to hear familiar 
ideas, and also like them put in a familiar way. Indeed, 
they may object to a departure from the old way, as 
children hold their entertainers to the very words of oft 
repeated stories. We know that partisan audiences love 
to gather on Jackson's birthday to hear again the familiar 
phrases in praise of party and party heroes. Gatherings 
of old soldiers never weary of their familiar themes and 
eulogies. It is said that the veterans from North and 
South at the great gathering on the field of Gettysburg in 
1913, did not take kindly President Wilson's attempt to 
talk to them of the duties of the present. Their minds 
were full of the past. 

What is triteness ? In apparent conflict with the above 
is the fact that no complaint is more common or damning 
than that a speech was trite, that its matter was stale, or 
wornout with much repeating. The complaint is evi- 
dently a demand for novelty. Plainly enough, it be- 
hooves a speaker to get a clear idea of triteness. 

The reconciliation of this criticism with the liking for 
the familiar may be sought, first, in the kind of subject 
used in a given case. It may not have been one consid- 
ered important by the fault-finder. Some one has well 
said, *^No truth ever is or can be trite to one who uses 
it." Old problems still pressing for solution do not be- 
come trite, though we may temporarily weary of them. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 125 

The old, old negro problem can still be depended upon 
for an interesting discussion in my classes. Again, the 
subject may not have been one dear to the hearts of the 
audience. We may note that the themes which people 
love to hear about in the old way are those on which they 
have warm convictions and strongly emotional associa- 
tions. Secondly, much depends upon the occasion. The 
old recital is especially welcomed at gatherings which 
awaken old and emotional associations. Then the old is 
congruous with the hearer's mood. The old soldiers 
gathered at Gettysburg are very different from the same 
men at home, with business uppermost in their minds. 
Political and religious meetings also arouse emotional 
associations and remove the critical spirit. As a student, 
summing up our discussion of this topic, once put it, 
' ' Triteness is saying the old thing in the old way, at the 
wrong time." This is true, though not all the truth. 

Thirdly^ the treatment of the old topic may have been 
dull, confused, or inferior to what the audience was ac- 
customed to. To fall below the expectation of the audi- 
ence, based on memory of other speakers, is especially 
unfortunate. Fourtldy, much depends upon the pre- 
sumption with which old matter is presented. If old 
mformation is presented as new, or old arguments are 
made as arguments which the audience has not before un- 
derstood, resentment may be provoked. ' ' Does he think 
we don't know that?" is sometimes heard. 

There are many young speakers who offend in this way, always 
"carrying coals to Newcastle." Students will tell their classmates 
how the campus is arranged and the most obvious faults of the 
old gymnasium. The explanation seems to be that they have not 
realized what speech-making is, and are still in the essay habit, 
writing for instructors who have no right to be interested. I have 
heard the commonplaces about our gymnasium so many times that, 
given the start, I know the rest. This speech and several others 



126 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

of its kind simply embody the campus talk, which any sophomore 
can give without preparation. Yet I have heard a speech on that 
same gymnasium and its same deficiencies, which combined so 
much new information and such an individual point of view with 
the old ideas, that it was genuinely interesting. There is another 
kind of student speaker, somewhat of a thinker and scholar, who 
tries to give us just as much new matter as possible, quite regard- 
less of the state of our interest and understanding. 

Audiences differ in their relish for novelty, because 
some are more conservative than others in their thinking. 
Some like to look back and dwell upon what we owe the 
past; they glory in Webster's speeches at Bunker Hill 
and Plymouth Rock; while others think those speeches 
tiresome commonplaces, and find their interest in what is 
and what is to be. Some love old ideas just because they 
are old, as they love old furniture; others love the new 
because it is new, as they love new words and new fash- 
ions. There are tories and radicals of thought. The dif- 
ference may arise not only from temperament, but also 
from training. A body of scholars, while insisting upon 
the recognition of established truths and approved modes 
of thought, may still delight in ventures into the fields of 
speculation ; they gladly seek new truth for its own sake. 
A body of ^'advanced thinkers," generally lacking sound 
training, may insist not at all upon the recognition of 
familiar landmarks, and take with enthusiasm the boldest 
flights into the uncharted realms of fancy. On the other 
hand, those who are unaccustomed to thinking and who 
are guided by a few inherited beliefs, are subject to 
mental homesickness when out of sight of the familiar 
headlands. They may even resent the introduction of a 
great deal that they cannot interpret. We recall, also, 
that the educated find fewer things entirely new, and they 
are more rarely carried beyond the point of comparison. 

Most persons will expect, on most occasions, to gain 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 127 

something from attending your address. They usually 
hope for new information, or to get new light on an old 
problem, or perhaps to receive reassurance and inspira- 
tion. Excepting the unusually serious-minded, few are 
so keen for improvement that they will take stock after- 
ward of what they have gained ; provided, they have been 
interested. But if you have not succeeded in interesting 
them, they will grumble that the time has been wasted, 
that it was ' ' the same old stuff, ' ' and that they have heard 
it much better put before. 

Summary. The new has power to interest; and the 
new is what the speaker himself often desires to present. 
We must keep in mind, however, the principle of derived 
interest. New ideas and facts should be presented so that 
they can be readily related to existing interests; so that 
the audience can see that the new is a valuable addition 
to existing knowledge, furnishes a new explanation, or is 
in opposition to existing beliefs. The audience likes to 
identify the familiar in new guise, simply to identify, or 
to recognize in an incident or situation a new instance to 
confirm an old conviction, or to find that accepted prin- 
ciples have applications hitherto unknown. We must 
recognize that there are circumstances under which 
audiences like to hear familiar ideas put in familiar ways ; 
and yet that they are quick to complain of triteness, which 
seems to be the result of putting old material in a way 
which fails to respond to or awaken their emotions, in a 
way which falls short of their expectations, or which as- 
sumes the ignorance of the audience. Usually we should 
aim to give something new in material or something new 
in treatment ; or better, something new in both. 

Making the audience think. I have been speaking 
merely of holding attention, leaving out of view the other 
purposes of the speaker. I have considered this problem. 



128 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

too, chiefly from the standpoint of the pleasure of the 
audience. If we consider the question of new and old 
with reference to making the audience think, which is, of 
course, to make them attend, we shall come to the same 
conclusion. We may rest this on the following from 
Dewey's How We Thinks 

' ' The more remote supplies the stimulus and the motive 
[of thinking] ; the nearer at hand furnishes the point of 
approach and the available resources. This principle 
may also be stated in this form : The best thinking oc- 
curs when the easy and the difficult are duly proportioned 
to each other. The easy and the familiar are equivalents, 
as are the strange and the difficult. Too much that is 
easy gives no ground for inquiry, too much of the hard 
renders inquiry hopeless. ' ' 

Sensational methods. To catch attention speakers 
sometimes use methods in sharp contrast with the usual. 
These are at times justifiable ; as when your audience is 
peculiarly inattentive because of stupidity, or weariness, 
or because of anger, as in case of a mob, or because their 
attention is strongly drawn by other attractions, as is 
often the case in outdoor speaking. In a sense, every 
speaker uses sensational methods when he suddenly lifts 
his voice, or uses a striking gesture or epigram ; but when 
an evangelist advertises, ^'Hell to-night at the Presby- 
terian Church, ' ' or tears off coat and collar, or suddenly 
shouts, ''Look out!" we say he is sensational. Between 
these extremes are many grades of sensationalism, and it 
is useless to attempt to say what is justifiable and what is 
not. There is this to be considered: When a speaker's 
public becomes accustomed to his extraordinary methods, 
it will not listen so well when he wishes to use more con- 
venient ordinary methods. Extreme methods are like 

1 P. 222. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 129 

stimulants, the dose has to be increased. If you turn a 
physical or a mental handspring to-day, you will be ex- 
pected to turn it backward to-morrow. Again, the sen- 
sational method may defeat its purpose of drawing at- 
tention to what you wish to impress, by drawing attention 
to itself. If you acquire a reputation as a ^^stuntster,'' 
people will come for the stunts, and perhaps feel 
impatient when you try to slip in a few ideas. 

To illustrate effective use of a striking expression, we may take 
the opening sentence of a bulletin of the New York State Health 
Board, intended to catch the public eye from the pages of a news- 
paper: *'It has been said that for every death from tuberculosis, 
some one should be hanged." Having caught attention without 
committing the Board to this startling proposal, the bulletin pro- 
ceeds : "It has been better said that for every death from tuber- 
culosis, some one should be educated." And note that this attracts 
attention to the very point of the bulletin. I would not at all 
discourage the use of the genuinely effective phrase. 

Curiosity. One of the surest ways of catching attention 
is to provoke curiosity in regard to what is coming. 
This is done sometimes by announcements or titles which 
cause guessing, such as Jelly-Fish and Equal Eights; ^ or 
it may be done by hints of notable disclosures to be made, 
or by a course of argument which keeps the hearer in 
doubt as to the speaker's ultimate position. Again, 
tricks are played upon the audience; as when a speaker 
displays a mysterious document, to which he may or may 
not refer. Unless the speaker, having caught attention, 
really interest his audience in something else, or in open- 
ing up his mystery satisfies them that their attention has 
been repaid, they may resent the trick ; as one feels peev- 
ish to find that a great secret he has been called aside to 
hear, is but trivial. If Mark Antony had not had a real 
sensation after holding back Caesar's will so long, his own 

1 Atlantic Monthly, July, 1914. 



ISO PUBLIC SPEAKING 

might have been among the houses burned by the mob. 
One remembers, too, the fate of the boy who cried, ^^Wolf, 
wolf ! ' ' when there was no wolf. 

Suspense. Closely related to curiosity is that element 
which carries us with breathless interest to the conclusion 
of a novel, seeking to know the hero's fate, and which 
makes most thrilling the game which is in doubt till the 
last '^put-out." There may be in most cases strong 
reasons why the speaker should tell his audience in ad- 
vance what he proposes to explain or prove or ask them to 
do, but the element of suspense is often available. A con- 
servative audience was held in considerable trepidation by 
a student speaker who devoted the first half of his speech 
to the best possible arguments for anarchy; and then 
listened with relief while he toppled over these same argu- 
ments. Mere uncertainty is not very effective; the un- 
certainty should arise with regard to something the audi- 
ence cares about. Sometimes the material of a speech can 
be thrown into the form of a dramatic narrative which has 
suspense as a principal element. 

Anticipation. But it is not sheer blank inability to 
foresee any issue at all that is most provocative of in- 
terest ; rather the chance to anticipate, to make a shrewd 
guess at the outcome. 

A preacher kept even the regular sleepers of his congregation 
awake by announcing that his text would not be given until the 
end of his sermon, and requesting that each should fix upon an 
appropriate verse of Scripture. 

More than this, we must admit great pleasure in looking 
forward to a known outcome. 

A writer in the Atlantic Monthly i points out that we go to a 
popular play with pretty complete advance information. 

"Consequently, there is not the slightest danger, even if we come 
late, that 1 shall laugh at the wrong place or fail to laugh at the 

1 May, 1914, The Show, by Simeon Strunsky. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 131 

right place, or that Emmeline will fail to grope for her handkerchief 
at the right time. Through the same agency of the newspaper the 
funniest lines, the strongest 'punch,' the most sympathetic bits of 
dialogue have been charted and located. At college I used to be 
told that the tremendous appeal of the Greek drama was dependent 
in large measure on the fact that it dealt with stories which were 
perfectly familiar to the public. The Athenian audience came to 
the theater expectant, surcharged with emotion, waiting eagerly 
to let its emotion go." 

The speaker will meet with such anticipation usually 
only in times of public excitement, when perhaps the 
papers have been prophesying that a leader will make a 
certain announcement on a given occasion. In some cases 
these announcements are skilfully prepared for by hints 
to the papers for several days, hints which preserve an 
element of uncertainty. In political campaigns a candi- 
date may go about day after day, reiterating a popular 
pledge, making damaging charges, or asking hard ques- 
tions of his opponent. We know w^hat he is going to say, 
but we want to hear him say it. 

Mr. Jerome with his brass checks from the "red-light" district, 
in one of his campaigns for the district attorneyship of New York 
City, and Mr. Taft with his oft reiterated pledge in 1908 to "carry 
out absolutely unaltered the policies of Theodore Roosevelt," may 
serve as examples. Mr. Hennessey, who during the mayoralty cam- 
paign in New York City, in 1913, gave each night a portion of his 
revelations of Tammany rule, with a promise of more to-morrow, 
illustrated the force of both anticipation and suspense. 

Humor. An audience will listen as long as it is amused, 
and a good laugh may banish weariness or hostility. So 
true is this that ability to make an audience laugh is a 
dangerous temptation to overuse humor. Unless the 
story or witty saying serves the purpose of the speech, it 
is likely to distract attention. The practice of dragging 
in stories without connection, or with only a fictitious con- 
nection, though very common, is one to *^make the 
judicious grieve." The determination to be ^^funny" at 



132 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

any cost comes within the spirit of Hamlet's condem- 
nation : 

*^Let those that play your clowns speak no more than 
is set down for them; for there be of them that will 
themselves laugh, to set on some barren quantity of spec- 
tators to laugh, too ; though, in the meantime, some nec- 
essary question of the play be then to be considered: 
that 's villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in 
the fool that uses it. ' ' 

Professor Ketcham i tells of a student, with whom we might sym- 
pathize in his yielding to temptation, without approving of his 
action. The speaker in question was third in a college oratorical 
contest, and one after the other the first two speakers forgot their 
speeches and retired. He came forward and began: 

"Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, 
Lest we forget, lest we forget." 

Professor Ketcham justly observes: "The effect was a decided 
success, if success were to be judged by the amusement of the 
audience ; but it only prolonged the time required to get the at- 
tention of the audience fixed on the serious subject which the 
speaker wished to present." There is one possible justification for 
what this speaker did, — that the quotation served to relieve the 
strain of feeling which holds all after the failure of a speaker. 
If the student had had the skill to frame a new introduction to 
lead gradually from the fun to his serious subject, I should say he 
had done well, but that is beyond the average ability. 

Even on the lightest of occasions, when the '^necessary 
question" is inconsiderable, one should not be content to 
descend to the mental level of the Duchess : ^ 

"He might bite," Alice cautiously replied. . . . 

"Very true," said the Duchess, "flamingoes and mustard both 
bite. And the moral of that is — *Birds of a feather flock to- 
gether.' " 

It is no great stretch of imagination to hear one of our ever- 
ready after-dinner speakers saying: 

"Mr. Chairman, I see before me a dish of mustard. A simple 
object to be sure ; yet it reminds me of other days. It reminds me 
that mustard bites." (Here story of the mustard plaster of child- 
ly r(7i(me>i#a^ion and Debate, p. 101. 
2 Alice in Wonderland, Chap. IX. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 133 

hood.) "But, Mr. Chairman, mustard is not the only thing that 
bites. Dogs bite, horses bite, tigers bite, and even birds, though 
toothless, bite. Yes, setting hens bite, and the other day I learned 
that flamingoes bite." (Story of how a flock of flamingoes bit a 
crocodile.) ''Well, Mr. Chairman, the hour is late, and I will only 
take time to observe, in more serious vein, that we see here again 
exemplified the old adage, *Birds of a feather flock together.' I 
' thank you." 

Young speakers will do well to note that the repetition 
of ^'stories" is not the only way to add humor to a speech. 
It may spring from the whimsical turn of a phrase, from 
placing in juxtaposition an opponent's incongruous argu- 
ments, from a comical bit of narration or description, 
without going at all outside the proper materials of the 
speech, or checking its movement. This may be illus- 
trated from a student's speech on athletics: ^ 

"Unconsciously we have made a huge caricature of the whole 
business. . . . We train up our athletes as did the colonial cavalier 
his fighting cocks, or as does the modern millionaire his racing 
horse ; we specially feed them, transport them in special trains ; 
we yen for them, bet on them and weep over them. If it were not 
so serious it would be highly humorous, the sight of our five-thou- 
sand dollar coaches and trainers, — intelligent men for the most 
part, — running around after their charges, coddling them and 
denying them, looking solicitously after their appetites, seeing that 
they are properly rubbed down, tucking them into bed, turning out 
the lights, aye, and report has it, even praying for them in a fashion 
all their own." 

Here and in several other places in the speech the 
speaker amused his hearers without in the least going out 
of his way. All the humor served to impress emphatic 
ideas. 

The funny story is much in vogue and undoubtedly has its use 
as well as its abuse. A word about the means of having a supply 
is in order. While we like old jokes, about fat men and about 
mothers-in-law, still they do pall upon the taste when we hear 
them often told in the same form, and listeners are rather apt to 
murmur, "That 's an old one," especially when they are told as 
new. Joke books may help (Shurter's Jolces I Have Met, is as 

1 Tendencies of American Athletics, by W. W. Taylor, Cornell, 
'07, winner of the Central Oratorical League contest in 1906. See 
Shurter's Rhetoric of Oratory, p. 219. 



134 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

good as any) ; but as one's fellow sufferers at a banquet may have 
had recourse to the same work, a speaker does well to have a pri- 
vate supply. It may prove worth while to preserve in a scrapbook 
or card index such stories as appeal to one as possibly useful in 
future speeches. 

Interest in conflict. We have an instinctive interest in 
conflict. We may hate it, dread it, joy in it, but are 
rarely indifferent to it, whether it takes, the form of a dog 
fight, of athletic struggles, of war, of business competition, 
or of a struggle with nature. We also like stories of con- 
flict, so told that through imagination we become spec- 
tators of or participants in the struggle. 

At times a speaker can utilize this interest by throwing 
his speech, or a part of it, into a narrative of the conflict 
with the forces of the opposition, whether those forces 
consist of men, as in war, politics and commerce, or of 
natural obstacles, as in building a canal or overcoming 
disease. No doubt interest is keenest where the conflict 
is with men, where passions are aroused; but enmity is 
not necessary. The story of the heroic period of an en- 
terprise or reform will usually hold attention. 

Antagonizing the audience. Another and quite differ- 
ent way to utilize the interest of conflict is to antagonize 
one 's hearers ; as, by statements contrary to their beliefs, 
or by condemning their customs or their heroes. A 
speaker may startle a sleepy audience into attention by 
a sweeping statement which he later modifies. The 
speaker, instanced before, who seemed to advocate an- 
archy, was employing antagonism as well as suspense. 
There would have been little point to an orthodox refuta- 
tion of anarchy before an audience convinced of its awf ul- 
ness ; but after becoming excited by an argument for an- 
archy they listened with relief while he demolished it. A 
student preaching the advantages of ^Sstudent activities'' 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 135 

would get better attention, if he first stated very fairly 
the argument against them. The method secures more 
thinking on the part of the audience. Manifestly, if the 
speaker wishes to get more thaA attention from his 
hearers, antagonizing them is a dangerous game to play ; 
and one who plays it should be confident of his ability to 
keep cool and to restore his audience to good humor. 

I consider only the question of interest here and not at all the 
moral question involved. I assume that speakers will say, in one 
way or another, what they believe, and will not try to deceive. I 
recognize, too, that at times one may feel it his duty to antagonize 
an audience. 

Interest in activity. ^^ Nothing is more interesting 
than a person, an animal, even a machine, in action. 
Much of the strength of window demonstrations, street 
vending, etc., depends on this fact. The New York 
Herald has no better advertisement than the sight of its 
presses, from the windows on Broadway. ' ' ^ Probably all 
students will recognize the picture of * ' a room full of col- 
lege students suddenly becoming perfectly still to watch a 
professor of physics tie a piece of string about a stick he 
was going to use in an experiment, but immediately grow- 
ing restless when he began to explain the experiment." 
The appeal of action may be added to a speech sometimes 
by the use of apparatus, but more often by a measure of 
acting, by gesture, by the rapid narration of events and 
by descriptions of animated scenes. We see here the re- 
lation of this topic to imagination. 

Illustrations can be found in the selections, Who is to Blame? 
and Await the Issue, printed at the end of Chapter XIV, and in 
Wendell Phillips's Toussaint UOuverture. 

Concreteness. What has been said of concreteness in 
Chapters III and IV should be reviewed and applied to 
1 HoUingworth, Advertising and Belling, p. 114. 



136 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

audiences, for they need concrete expression even more 
than the speaker himself. Great speeches will be found 
notably concrete in language and abounding in illustra- 
tions; and experienced speakers, at least those who suc- 
ceed with general audiences, tend to grow more and more 
concrete. I heard a noted scholar, now distinctly concrete 
in his speech, say, ^^When I returned from Europe, filled 
with the German abstract philosophy, my audiences did 
not ask me to come again. ' ' Highly trained thinkers may 
hold unnecessary the wealth of fact and incident which 
experienced speakers put into their discourse; but the 
speakers know that the less highly trained will hardly 
make an effort to listen to abstractions, but will wait till 
their speakers ''come down to cases." Narratives, ex- 
amples, illustrations, fables, parables — these hold atten- 
tion and stick in memory. 

We recall the less usual meanings of the term concrete. 
Our ideas should be clothed in familiar terms, such as 
require no translation. These will be of the best Eng- 
glish, the English known to all, the words we acquire 
early in life and which have the greatest significance for 
us. These familiar words will not be bookish or ''big." 
It does not matter what language they are derived from, 
nor whether they are long or short, just so they are famil- 
iar and suitable ; though they will more often than not be 
Saxon and short. 

There are obvious limitations on this doctrine : less familiar 
words may be needed for accuracy, and even for force, and the 
more specialized one's subject the greater the need for technical 
language. But the use of technical and unfamiliar words should 
not be extended beyond what is necessary. 

Long and short words and Latin and Saxon derivatives are dis- 
cussed in Spencer's Philosophy of Style. You will find a simple 
and specific statement of what good sense and good taste decree on 
the use of words, in HiU's Foundations of Rhetoric^ under the 
heading, Words to Choose. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 137 

Again, we recall that the average man is practical in 
his thinking, and will be chiefly interested in the appli- 
cations of your ideas. He may dismiss the whole matter 
unless he sees early in your address that you are coming 
to a practical application. Says Dewey : ^ 

*^For the great majority of men under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, the practical exigencies of life are almost, if 
not quite, coercive. Their main business is the proper 
conduct of their affairs. Whatever is of significance only 
as affording scope for thinking is pallid and remote — 
almost artificial. Hence the contempt felt by the success- 
ful executive for the ^mere theorist^; hence his convic- 
tion that certain things may be all very well in theory, 
but that they will not do in practice ; in general, the de- 
preciatory way in which he uses the terms, abstract, 
theoretical, and intellectual — as distinct from intelli- 
gent,'^ 

A group of men listens to a professor of physics explaining gyro- 
static motion. At the end the questions show that the chief in- 
terest is in such practical questions as how the principle affects 
automobiles on curves. Some of the scientific men present inquire 
about more theoretical applications, but their questions are prac- 
tical to them. The so-called practical man might consider the 
■ above quotation from Dewey, "moonshine" ; but I find it interest- 
ing because I see its practical applications. 

Once your average man has derived an interest in a 
subject through some practical application, he may be 
carried far beyond the limits of the practical. 

Be specific with audiences. Generalizations have their 
place, but they should usually be accompanied by specific 
expressions when strong impression is desired. If you 
wish to say of a man that he has known many of the great 
of his time, it may be better to say. He has met and 
talked familiarly with Gladstone, Bismarck, Cavour and 
many another of the great of his day — thus securing the 

1 How We Think, p. 138. 



1S8 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

advantages of both general and specific statement. 
Macaulay writes: 

*'Dawn went the old church of France, with all its pomp and 
power. The churches were closed; the bells were silent; the 
shrines were plundered ; the silver crucifixes were melted down ; 
buffoons dressed in surplices came dancing the carmagnole, even to 
the bar of the convention." 

The statement grows more vivid and imagination is 
touched as the specific items are added. But to enumer- 
ate is only one way to be specific. One can say maple 
instead of tree^ Sam Adams instead of one of the Bevolu- 
tionary Fathers, or it snowed instead of the weather 
was bad. Consider the difference in vividness caused by 
the substitution of walked for went in He went down the 
street; and then substitute for ivalJced one of these: 
marched, paced, plodded, sauntered, hurried, shuffled, 
shambled, sluik, staggered, strode, swaggered. The 
specific terms provoke a mental image, and the desired 
mental image, more quickly and certainly than the gen- 
eral expression. The word tree may call up an elm, when 
the speaker meant a maple tree ; or just a vague any sort 
of tree, or no tree at all. Moreover, as our emotional as- 
sociations group themselves about particular things, the 
specific term is more likely to find firm footing in the 
mind. 

Specific and general illustrations. It has been pointed 
out ^ that illustrations, which are by their nature con- 
crete, may be either general or specific. The statement 
that college education is not necessary to the development 
of strong men, may be given this general illustration: 
We have had many great statesmen, warriors, inventors 
and business men who enjoyed but meager schooling; 
but we come to specific instance with — 

1 Phillips, Effective Speaking, p. 89. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 139 

'^Abraham Lincoln had learned at school only the 
three R's. . . . President Andrew Johnson, a former 
tailor, visited no school. . . . Andrew Carnegie began his 
commercial career when twelve years of age, as a factory 
hand. . . . Edison was engaged in selling papers when 
twelve years of age." 

The general illustration has the advantages of giving 
fuller scope to the idea and of not checking the hearer 
in supplying instances from his own experience ; but it is 
comparatively vague and there is no certainty that the 
hearer will be able, on the spur of the moment, to sup- 
port the statement with any instances at all. The specific 
instance limits the scope, but is more certain to provoke 
response and to add to the convincingness of a statement ; 
provided the instances given have strong associations in 
the minds of one's hearers. Eucalyptus would more 
certainly bring a sharp image to a California audience 
than would tree, but not to a New York audience. 

Imagination and attention of the audience. If a 
speaker in his preparation duly exercises his imagination 
and gives it ample material to work upon, he will tend to 
express his thoughts in such forms as will stimulate the 
imagination of his hearers. This is a tendency to be 
encouraged. Every teacher and every speaker knows 
he can hold attention longer with experiments, with 
objects and processes to see, than with words alone. But 
since the actual presentation of the things discussed is 
limited, maps, charts, diagrams and stereopticon pictures 
are brought into play when feasible. So strong is their 
command of attention that it is a disadvantage to have 
them present when one does not wish his audience to look 
at them. 

I recently heard a young lecturer who permitted his operator to 
run off near the end of his discourse, a series of views having no 



140 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

immediate connection with what he was saying. Needless to say, 
that part of an interesting lecture was lost. 

In the majority of cases, the use of pictures and charts 
is impracticable or undesirable, but their effectiveness 
serves to impress upon us the fact that a speaker who can 
fill the minds of his audience with images of sight, sound 
and motion, is pretty sure of attention. Of the speaker 
who cannot stir imagination, one writer ^ has gone so far 
as to say: ''A man who cannot translate his concepts 
into definite images of the proper objects is fitted neither 
to teach, preach nor practise any profession. He should 
waste as little as possible of the time of his fellow-mortals 
by talking to them. ' ' 

Imagination and the materials of a speech. One does 
not have to introduce special material for the purpose 
of rousing imagination, but can use the proper materials 
of his speech. The facts in regard to the life of Lincoln 
can be woven together to make him stand before us a 
living man ; the facts upon which one bases his argu- 
ment for arbitration can be arranged so as to make con- 
ditions real. Narration and description are the chief 
means of accomplishing these ends; and the study of 
works which deal with these forms of discourse is recom- 
mended, though the reader must bear in mind that they 
are prepared for the student of written rather than of 
oral discourse.^ 

If you were discussing the fortification of the Panama 
Canal, the prospects of the Mexican people, the causes of 
the European war, the safeguarding of passengers on 
steamships, the business future of the South, the promise 
of a railroad your hearers are asked to finance, the best 

1 Halleck, Psychology and Psychic Culture, p. 188. 

2 Gardiner's Forms of Prose Discourse, Lamont's English Com- 
position and Baldwin's Composition Oral and Written, are sug- 
gested. Use their indexes. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 141 

kind of a steam plant for a certain factory, — in all these 
cases, both for clearness and for interest, you would 
wish so to group your facts that your hearers would 
imaginatively realize situations, conditions and events. 
Some speeches will fall naturally into narrative or into de- 
scriptive form ; but others will more conveniently take an 
expository or an argumentative form. These, however, 
may need narrative or descriptive passages, as in explain- 
ing or arguing about the causes of a war, or the wisdom 
of the Monroe Doctrine. Besides the necessary descrip- 
tions of places, situations and major events, there is also 
opportunity for enlivening discourse by descriptions of 
personalities and by anecdotes. 

Analogy. We may reach out beyond the necessary ma- 
terials of a speech and touch imagination by the use of 
analogies, comparisons and figures of speech. For ex- 
amples of analogy we may turn to the selection from 
Huxley at the end of Chapter XIV. 

Illustration, of one form or another, is the very life 
of speech. No one can be unconscious of the satisfaction, 
the relief from strain, the coming back to attention, when 
a speaker follows a theoretical discussion with, ' ' To illus- 
trate." Illustrations can best be studied in complete 
speeches or long excerpts such as it is not feasible to in- 
clude here. One also needs something of the situation 
to appreciate a good illustration. But the subject is of 
such importance that I shall emphasize a few points in 
regard to the use of illustrations. 

First suggestion: Take care that each illustration 
adds its strength to that which deserves emphasis in your 
speech, and does not obscure that by unduly emphasiz- 
ing minor points. Resist the temptation to use a good 
story or striking picture for its own sake, regardless of 
the worth of the idea that it strengthens. Do not ^ Vork 



142 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

illustrations in" if they are not strictly pat, no matter 
how amusing, or stirring, or beautiful. Your hearers will 
either puzzle over the relation which should exist, or they 
will be drawn off to the thought the illustration really 
illumines. A speaker who is privileged to hear the com- 
ments of his auditors will often be pained at the number 
of instances in which their attention has been caught 
by some idea incidental to an illustration used, while the 
main thought has escaped them. You may expect your 
illustrations to be remembered longest ; they should there- 
fore be of such a character that they will recall to mind 
your major ideas. 

I heard a noted advocate of equal suffrage spend a third of her ad- 
dress on the illustration of a minor point in her argument, — that the 
country people before her should be interested in the rights and 
wrongs of city workers. This suggested the truth that all the 
world to-day is bound together by common interests ; and this point 
she illustrated by the effect that a change of administration in 
Korea had upon an industry in a New York town. For fifteen 
minutes she described very beautifully life in Korea, while we for- 
got the suffrage and even the direct application of her illustration. 

- Second suggestion: Use only illustrations which are 
congruous with the spirit of your speech and of the occa- 
sion. Beware, for example, of frivolous illustrations on 
serious occasions and of such as will seem pretentious 
and over-serious on lighter occasions. It should be noted, 
however, that illustrations, especially of a narrative char- 
acter, are useful in gradually changing the spirit of an 
audience. 

Third suggestion: Do not use unnecessary details, 
but choose those needed to make the picture. To give 
every detail is to stifle imagination ; as a photograph may 
suggest less than a few strokes of an artist 's brush. The 
street urchin I heard replying to his chum's question, 
''How is the ice?'' with, ''Fine; so clear you can see a 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 143 

snake on the bottom ! ' ' could not have improved the pic- 
ture of good skating with any number of details. Do not 
let needless preliminary details take more time than the 
incident. A formal introduction is not always necessary, 
not even ''To illustrate." Instead of a long preamble, 
as, This reminds me of a man who used to live in our 
town, who had a son named John, who would not go to 
school. So the father decided he would find a way to 
impress the desirability of school upon his son. So one 
morning he said to John, at the breakfast table, says he, 
''John, etc.,'' — instead of all this rigmarole, in most cases 
it would be better to say, As a father said to his son who 
would not go to school, etc. 

Fourth suggestion: On the other hand, there must be 
details. How many it is useless to attempt to say : enough 
to serve the purpose. If needed details are omitted the 
audience may make no imaginative effort; or may sup- 
ply wrong details. 

If you wish them to imagine a scene of great animation, 
you must give enough details of life and movement to 
prevent their imagining a lifeless scene. However, it is 
generally true that fewer details are needed when you 
wish to convey merely an impression than when you 
wish your hearers to form an image substantially correct ; 
as when you wish a board of directors to know the pro- 
posed arrangement of a factory, or a jury to realize ex- 
actly how the parties to a tragedy were grouped. There 
may be times when elaboration is desired simply to hold 
attention upon the illustration longer, in order to deepen 
the impression. 

Sufficiency of details is often consistent with brevity. 
Much is gained by using specific words. If instead of 
saying building^ you say tower or church, your hearers 
have the right image at once, and no further detail may 



144 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

be needed. It is not necessary to give each detail a sep- 
arate statement. To illustrate both this and the preced- 
ing hint, if you say, The army was moving along a 
stream, you still need several details, lest your hearers 
see a creek when you mean a considerable river, and 
see the army on the left bank going north, when you wish 
them to see the army on the right bank going south. 
But if you say, General Jones was hurrying with his 
cavalry division down the right bank of the Delaware 
River to reach the ford at X, several essential points 
have been economically conveyed, and yet given sufficient 
prominence. 

You should beware of asking an audience to carry in mind a 
very elaborate mass of details ; and when complexity is necessary 
you should use charts, pictures and models. I hear students trying 
to explain complicated apparatus, and requiring their hearers to 
put in order in imagination so many thingumbobs articulating in 
so many ways with so many thingumjigs, that the class gives up 
and waits politely for the end. Even with diagrams and all pos- 
sible aids, some explanations are impossible in a short speech, and 
these should simply not be attempted. The answers to criticism, 
"Why I said so and so," and "I thought anybody could understand 
that," are no answers at all. 

An analogy may be helpful in explaining a complicated situation. 
A famous example is that by Hugo beginning, "Those who wish to 
form a distinct idea of the battle of Waterloo need only imagine 
a capital A laid on the ground." The description that follows is 
well worth looking up.i The elevation on which the Northern army 
lay on the third day of the battle of Gettysburg has been compared 
to an enormous fish-hook, with Little Round Top hill at the eye 
of the hook, the cemetery at the beginning of the bend, which 
curves away from Lee's main position, bringing the two wings of 
Meade's army rather close together. 

Fifth suggestion: The success of any piece of word 
painting will depend much upon order of details. It has 
been proved that the time taken by an experienced me- 
chanic in assembling a machine, can be cut down two 

iLes Miseralles: Cosette, Book I, Chapter IV. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 145 

thirds by providing him a rack which presents the parts 
to his hands in the best order. Somewhat similar is the 
increase in your hearers' imaginative effectiveness when 
you give them details in the right order. If some needed 
detail is not given in time, your hearers may be at a loss, 
or may supply it wrongly, and then have to '^ reas- 
semble ' ' the whole. The illustration above of describing 
the movement of an army, may be applied here also. 

That this suggestion is not merely one of the notions of fussy 
pedagogues, may be seen from the fact that so great a thinker as 
Herbert Spencer has laid stress upon the order of details in an 
image, going so far as to weigh the relative advantages of the Eng- 
lish and the French orders in a tlacJc horse and a horse hlack^ and 
deciding in favor of the former on the ground that when one 
hears the word horse he is likely to image a bay horse, and thus 
have to reconstruct his mental image when hlack is added. We 
may agree with critics that Spencer pressed his point too far, but 
not on the ground that the effort of reconstruction is too slight to 
matter. *'Mony a mickle makes a muckle," and the nerve force 
wasted in listening to a half-hour address may prove considerable. 
Often as one listens in conversation to a description or narration, 
he is deeply puzzled until some missing detail is given. "Oh," he 
says, "that is what stuck me. Now it begins to clear up" ; and he 
straightens out the matter by asking questions and rearranging 
details. But one who listens to a speech usually cannot do this. 

Sixth suggestion: Consider your audience in choos- 
ing illustrations. First, you should consider what illus- 
trations your audience will understand. The references 
to Dick Turpin, Jeremy Diddler and Jonathan Wild, in 
the selection, "Who is to Blame? (see Chapter XIV) are 
open to criticism. I refer here to brief allusions. If time 
permits and the illustration is worth it, sufficient expla- 
nation to make it intelligible may, of course, be given. 
Secondly, when you use illustration for the sake of in- 
terest, you should draw from fields which interest your 
hearers. Thirdly, you should consider what associations 
you may be stirring up. You can get the interest of 



146 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

old soldiers by illustrations drawn from the Civil War; 
but in your Memorial Day address in the North you had 
better not confine yourself to Bull Run, Chancellorsville 
and other defeats, nor in the South would you choose 
Sherman 's ' ' bummers ' ' to illustrate reckless daring. Not 
only may unfortunate illustrations provoke unpleasant 
feelings, but also they may distract attention from your 
main thought. An illustration, even though apt and ap- 
plied to the central thought, may be too interesting, 
whether the feelings be pleasant or unpleasant. If to- 
day one draws an illustration from the European war, 
he risks losing attention. 

Sources of material for illustration. The possible 
sources are too numerous to mention; but illustrations 
are so little used by young speakers that some sug- 
gestions are justified. Besides such general sources as 
politics, history, literature, science and religion, we have 
the special suggestions of the time and place of speaking, 
the events which are filling the press, or are still fresh in 
memory, and the direct experiences of the audiences. It 
is well to note also that there is a pleasurable interest in 
merely recalling events of the more distant past. The 
old especially will awaken to interest when you remind 
them of events, important or unimportant, which once 
held their attention, though long out of mind. *'Yes," 
said an old man with wistful interest, *'I remember I 
was a little boy when the war with Mexico broke out. 
Father used to read to us out of the papers about General 
Taylor and Santa Anna. ' ' 

Among the more tangible sources of illustration are 
such history and literature as come within common 
knowledge : Shakespeare, ^sop 's fables, American his- 
tory and the Bible are perhaps the commonest sources 
before general audiences. A student of affairs has at- 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 147 

tributed something of Mr. Byran's power with such audi- 
ences to the fact that he has *^the Bible and American 
history at his tongue's end." This does not mean that 
Mr. Byran has a scholar's knowledge of American history 
and the Bible, but that he has a good command of the 
better known facts. 

It is interesting to read, in connection with that statement, Mr. 
Bryan's own discussion of illustration.i He says that nature and 
literature are the two sources, and nature, in which term he evi- 
dently includes human nature, is the more important. People 
know nature better than they know books, and the illustrations 
drawn from everyday life are the most effective. To quote : 

*'If the orator can seize upon something within sight or hearing 
of his audience — something that comes to his notice at the moment 
and as if not thought of before — it will add to the effectiveness of 
the illustration. For instance, Paul's speech to the Athenians de- 
rived a large part of its strength from the fact that he called atten- 
tion to an altar near by, erected 'to the Unknown God,' and then 
proceeded to declare unto them the God whom they ignorantly wor- 
shiped. 

"Classical allusions ornament a speech, their value being greater 
of course when addressed to those who are familiar with their 
source. Poetry can often be used to advantage. . . . By far the 
most useful quotations for the orator, however, are those from Holy 
Writ. The people are more familiar with the Bible than with any 
other single book, and lessons drawn from it reinforce a speech. 
The Proverbs of Solomon abound in sentences which aptly express 
living truths. Abraham Lincoln used scripture quotations very 
frequently and very powerfully. Probably no Bible quotation, or, 
for that matter, no quotation from any book, ever has had more 
influence upon the people than the famous quotation made by Lin- 
coln in his Springfield speech of 1858, — 'A house divided against 
itself cannot stand.' It is said that he had searched for some time 
for a phrase that would present in the strongest possible way the 
proposition he intended to advance — namely, that the nation could 
not endure half-slave and half-free." 

A very important source of illustration is observation. 
The speaker who observes human life and its various oc- 
cupations, talks with all sorts of men, looks straight at 
things and asks questions until he understands them, 
will gather a mass of illustrative material that will serve 
him in good stead when needed. 

1 Introduction to his World's Famous Orations^ p. xiii. 



148 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Webster, standing one morning at daybreak on the heights of 
Quebec, heard the drumbeat from the fortress and fell to thinking 
of the extent of England's power. Years after, when wishing to 
impress upon the Senate the rash courage of our forefathers in 
resisting so great a power, he does not content himself with statis- 
tics of England's army and navy and wealth, but illuminates all 
with, — 

*'They raised their flag against a power to which, for purposes of 
foreign conquest and subjugation, Rome, in the height of her glory, 
was not to be compared, a power which has dotted over the surface 
of the whole globe with her possessions and military posts ; whose 
morning drumbeat, following the sun, and keeping company with 
the hours, circles the earth daily with one continuous and unbroken 
strain of the martial airs of England.'' 

Figures of speech. The consideration of analogies leads 
us naturally to figurative language. I shall not attempt 
to treat of the reasons why ^' words, singly or in compo- 
sition, diverted from their original meaning to suggest or 
signify something analogous, ' ' ^ serve to add to the clear- 
ness and beauty of composition. We are concerned with 
figures as a means of holding attention. "Wendell treats 
figures under the head of Force, which he defines ^ as 
'Hhe emotional quality of style, . . . the distinguish- 
ing quality of a style which holds the attention." We are 
particularly interested in figures here because they tend 
to create images in the mind. 

A brief review of speech literature will convince one 
that there is force in figures well used. We shall find 
that many of those passages which peculiarly cling to 
memory are enlivened by figure. The popular declama- 
tions are filled with figures; such as Grady's ''The Uni- 
versity the Training-Camp of the Future," with a 
metaphor in its title, and beginning, ' ' We are standing in 
the daybreak of the second century of this republic. 
The fixed stars are fading from the sky, and we grope in 
uncertain light." A glance through Curtis 's ''Leader- 

1 Wendell, English Composition, p. 245. 2 Idem, p. 235. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 149 

ship of Educated Men," reveals figures in almost every 
line. Observe this paragraph : 

*'The scholar is denounced as a coward. Humanity falls among 
thieves, we are told, and the college Levite, the educated Pharisee, 
pass by on the other side. Slavery undermines the Republic, but 
the clergy in America are the educated class, and the church makes 
itself the bulwark of slavery. Strong drink slays its tens of 
thousands, but the educated class leaves the gospel of temperance 
to be preached by the ignorant and the enthusiast, as the English 
Establishment left the preaching of regeneration to Methodist 
itinerants in fields and barns. Vast questions cast their shadows 
upon the future : the just relations of capital and labor ; the dis- 
tribution of land ; the towering power of corporate wealth ; reform 
in administrative methods ; but the educated class, says the critic, 
instead of advancing to deal with them promptly, wisely, and 
courageously, and settling them as morning dissipates the night, 
without a shock, leaves them to be kindled to fury by demagogues, 
lifts a panic cry of communism, and sinks paralyzed with terror." 

One may be surprised on examination to find how 
constantly one uses figures. Even if some student says 
he v^ill ^4eave such flowery stuff to the wind-jammers 
and hot air artists/' he is using metaphors, and mixing 
them too. Figures give the *' punch'' to slang. Some 
one has said that language is but a nosegay of faded meta- 
phors. Some of these lie partly hidden in Latin 
derivatives. ' ' Attention really means a stretching out to- 
ward. . . . Apprehend is nothing more or less than the 
Latin for catch on/^ ^ More plainly we see the figures in 
dayhreakf sl wild idea, flight of time, hreak the ice, grit, 
fret. We cannot help using figures if we would. It is 
doubtful if one should often seek a figure; though he 
may when wishing a rallying cry, or other expression 
which he very especially wishes to stick in mind. But 
since we are bound to use figures, and since well used 
they have force and badly used may be absurd, some at- 
tention to them is desirable. 

Wendell finds ^ that the essence of figure is a ' ' deep 
sense of connotation," and that their good use demands 

1 Wendell, English Composition, p. 248. 

2 Idem, pp. 255, 258. 



150 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

primarily sympathy; that is, such an understanding of 
those addressed as will enable one to know what associa- 
tions a figure will arouse in their minds. The comparison 
should be ' ' broadly, sympathetically human. ' ' 

A complete treatment of figures would be out of place here. 
Those not familiar with the subject will profit by turning to one 
or more of the following works : Hill's Foundations of Rhetoric, 
Wendell's E^iglisJi Composition, Spencer's Philosophy of Style, Ge- 
nung's Working Principles of Rhetoric, Read also what Whipple 
says on the subject in his essay, Webster as a Master of English 
Style. I will speak only of the chief danger in the use of figures. 

The chief danger lies in the mixed metaphor, the product of a 
mind too unimaginative to realize that it is using figures, or of a 
very nimble imagination which leaps too rapidly from picture to 
picture. 

Probably few are capable of the famous bull : "I smell a rat, 
I see it floating in the air ; but mind you, I shall nip it in the bud," 
or of that product of the same mind, "I stand prostrate before the 
throne." These were nearly equaled, however, by the member of 
Parliament who declared that the British lion, "whether roaming 
the plains of India, or climbing the forests of Canada, will never 
draw in his horns or crawl into his shell." "The young men are 
the backbone of this country," declared a speaker, "and that back- 
bone should be brought to the front." I heard a preacher depicting 
a young girl coming forth from her home to go tripping o'er the 
sea of life, while the devil reaches for her on every hand. 

The famous "bulls" are only especially absurd instances of what 
any one is likely to produce who is careless in his use of words. 
While the slips are rarely so amusing as those given above, they 
may be quite as confusing to those hearers who have active imag- 
inations. 

You will notice that the absurdities are often due to failure to 
recognize the figures in hackneyed expressions. Backbone, smell 
a rat, sea of life, are faded metaphors, but are still too strongly 
figurative to be used freely in disregard of their original meanings. 
The best suggestion for avoiding error is that we should develop 
the habit of visualizing our expressions. No man who does this 
will make the ship of state jump the rails, or break the backbone 
of a cold wave. 

A well developed sense of words, such as is acquired by language 
study, is a great safeguard.i Every speaker should develop some 

1 Cf. Titchener, Primer of Psychology, p. 205. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 151 

sense of the figures which lie in the plain English forms, at least; 
such as standard^ safeguard and hand. Every one should realize 
that a standard may be raised or lowered, but hardly laid down 
when one means set up ; and that one is not injured at the hands 
of a bulldog. If a hearer is not confused, he is at least distracted, 
when he is told of Goldwin Smith that his "intellectual activities 
kept pace with his declining years.'* 

Since the figures to which our attention is called are usually 
either absurd or magnificent, it may be well to call attention to 
some of homely force. These we may find in many a proverb, such 
as, "A burnt child dreads the fire," "A rolling stone gathers no 
moss." Of the extreme abolitionists, Beecher said, "They are try- 
ing to drive the wedge into the log butt-end foremost, and they will 
only split their beetle." And Robert Collier said of Beecher, who 
broke through the traditional theology of his church, "He was an 
oak planted in a washtub ; it was hard on the tub." 

Variations in imagery. We should note again, that 
individuals differ in regard to their dominating forms of 
imagery. These differences are likel}^ to affect expres- 
sion ; that is, an eye-minded person in describing an event 
is likely to emphasize the visual imagery, dwelling upon 
what was to be seen; while an ear-minded person 
will emphasize sounds. A pertinent suggestion arising 
from these facts I am permitted to quot^ as follows : 

^ ' ' If the speaker is a visual, and his audience is made 
up predominantly of motors, his images are of no use. 
As a matter of fact, most audiences are largely visual; 
but there is a large motor element ever;^^where, and al- 
lowance must be made for it. . . . Another thing to re- 
member is the audience's limits of attention. Shift from 
one type of cue to another on the part of the lecturer is 
more restful than the attempt to be concrete within the 
range of a single kind of cue. A man speaks very dif- 
ferently on the same subject, according as he speaks 
from sight, sound or feel. He becomes a different man ; 
his language and the nature of his appeal are different; 
and so the audience does not get tired. ' ' 

1 A letter from Professor Titchener. 



152 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Sustaining attention. We have noted that novelty, 
curiosity, and sensational methods, while they may catch 
attention, will not of themselves hold it; but what we 
have learned of derived interest, concreteness and imagi- 
nation is as applicable to sustaining as to gaining atten- 
tion. And what we shall proceed to concerning compo- 
sition is applicable to both phases. There are, however, 
some special considerations under this head. 

The principle especially in mind here is already famil- 
iar from Chapter III. Fix in mind the statement quoted 
from Professor James on p. 60, noting in particular, ^^The 
subject must be made to show new aspects of itself; to 
prompt new questions; in a word to change." Few 
phases of this whole subject are better worth our con- 
sideration than the avoidance of monotony; and we are 
now prepared to enumerate some of the ways of present- 
ing a topic with due variation. They can be used only 
by a man ^^of full mind, in whom the subject in hand is 
so mastered and matured that his thought upon it is active 
and germinant."^ Amplification of a thought does not 
mean dilution, but enrichment. 

First, we have the various phases of our subject-matter. 
If Lincoln is our theme, we may view him in the many 
phases before suggested. If we have narrowed down to 
Lincoln ^s tact, we may consider his tact in the law court, 
in politics, in dealing with his generals, with diplomats, 
etc. If the theme is arbitration, we may look at its 
economic side, its social side, its moral side, etc. If we 
speak on *' Honesty is the best policy,'' we may treat it 
first theoretically, then practically; and then we may 
consider honesty in social life, in the practice of law or 

1 Genung, Working Principles of Rhetoric, p. 464. This is an 
excellent reference on amplification. See also Phillips's Effective 
Speaking under the headings, Cumulation, Restatement, General 
Illustration, Specific Instance and Testimony. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 153 

medicine, or in selling goods. Taking up the negro 
problem, a mind at all familiar with that subject can 
work out twenty phases in as many minutes. But since 
we must usually treat but one small part of a subject, we 
must carry analysis further. From the negro question 
we may select the negro in slavery; then, even without 
study, we think of how the negroes were brought into 
slavery, the economic factors that made their labor profit- 
able in the South, but not in the North, different types 
of negroes in slavery, negroes as skilled workers, rela- 
tions of masters and slaves, education permitted, means 
of gaining freedom, their music, religion, etc. But al- 
most any one of these divisions would make a topic for 
a speech ; and on study and analysis we should find that 
we could go on subdividing, as the botanist continues to 
make more and more classifications as his knowledge 
grows more intensive. Here, of course, the study of the 
topic as urged in Chapter IV comes in play. 

Again, we may consider our material from different 
angles, as it will be viewed by different classes of people. 
If lynching is our theme, we may consider how the 
ignorant negro is affected by it, how the intelligent 
negro views it, how the North looks upon it, and how dif- 
ferent classes of Southern people view it. Further, we 
may very profitably consider with how many existing in- 
terests of our hearers we can link our topic ; for every new 
relationship gives it a new aspect. We may put our 
ideas now into abstract, now into concrete terms ; now into 
general use, now into specific terms. We may utilize apt 
quotations. We may throw our arguments now into the 
forms of hard and fast exposition and logic, now into 
forms which will touch the imagination and the dramatic 
sense. We may use examples, illustrations general and 
specific, and analogies and figures. 



154 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

This list of possibilities is suggestive rather than com- 
plete. It is further to be observed that how much varia- 
tion is needed depends upon the length of the speech, 
its difficulty and the ability of the audience to attend 
and their eagerness to listen. Experience indicates that 
all this is not too obvious to mention, but should prove 
useful as a means of self-criticism. Beginners are often 
weak in the use of wise amplification. 

Brevity. Often the beginner does not see that ampli- 
fication is needed for clearness and impressiveness, but 
thinks it means simply making a little go a long way, — 
dilution. The virtue of brevity is much impressed upon 
us. We are told that ^^ brevity is the soul of wit," that 
the average composition would be improved by cutting 
out half its words. Adjectives and adverbs in excess are 
particularly warned against. AVhen Hamlet says of his 
father, ' ^ He w^as a man, take him for all in all, ' ' he could 
not have strengthened his praise by adding any adjective 
to man. Too many w^ords and phrases, circumlocutions, 
such as iron utensil frequently employed for excavation 
instead of spade, — all these are clumsy and clog move- 
ment. Brevity is an essential ingredient in many a force- 
ful saying, though surprise is quite as important: 
*' Verbosity is cured by a wide vocabulary"; '^Language 
is the art of concealing thought"; *'Do not mistake per- 
spiration for inspiration"; ^'God pays, but he does 
not pay every Saturday." And finally, we know that 
audiences like brevity; that is, they like short speeches. 
Granting all this and more, still we must not over- 
estimate the value of mere brevity. There is a necessity 
of iteration, of staying attention upon an idea until it 
grows clear and impressive. Psychologists tell us that 
frequency as well as intensity is important in fixing im- 
pressions. More than this, amplification is not mere 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 155 

repetition ; there is gain in information and understand- 
ing. Even the restatement sheds new light on a point. 
If this were not true, many of the greatest essays, poems, 
books, even the life work of some great men might as well 
be condensed into a few sententious sayings. Would it 
have been better if Newman, having written in The Idea 
of a University that a gentleman ^4s one who never in- 
flicts pain," had not gone on for several fine paragraphs, 
explaining and impressing his meaning? Yet there is 
the whole thought ^ ^ in a nutshell. ' ' 

Let us take an earnest presentation of the argument 
for brevity by Dr. Austin Phelps : ^ 

^'Many years ago, Kossuth the Hungarian patriot, in 
an address in the city of New York, expressed the idea 
that the time had gone by when the people could be 
depended upon for their own enslavement by standing 
armies. He compressed it into two words. Said he, 
^Bayonets think.' The words caught the popular taste 
like wildfire. They took rank with the proverbs of the 
language immediately. The idea was not new, but the 
style of it was. It had been floating in the dialect of 
political debate ever since the battle of Bunker Hill, 
but never before had it been condensed into a brace of 
words. The effect was electric. Millions then, for the 
first time, felt it as a fact in political history. Within a 
month the newspapers of Oregon had told their readers 
that bayonets think. Everybody told everybody else 
that bayonets think. In style it was a minie-buUet : 
everybody who heard it was struck by it. Such is the 
force of laconic dialect. ' ' 

Observe, first, that this expression '* Bayonets think," 
would be very hard to interpret if it stood alone. Dr. 
Phelps tells us it is an old idea, yet he feels the need of 
giving its meaning in advance. No doubt Kossuth had 
presented the idea fully before he reached this expres- 

1 Phelps and Frink, Rhetoric, p. 139. 



156 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

sion in his speech, and this was only a way of condensing 
his thought into a flashing phrase that would stick in 
memory. Usually these phrases, wonderful for brevity 
and force, depend upon the previous understanding of 
the audience, gained either beforehand or from the 
speech itself ; and they simply crystallize this understand- 
ing. This is true of the epigrams quoted above. How 
much would they mean to one who could not translate and 
amplify them ? So much depends upon the information 
and belief of one's hearers that we cannot safely accept 
the dogmatic statement, the briefer the better. 

So much for brevity and clearness. We cannot doubt 
that brief statements are often forceful. I should like 
to insist on this truth, were there need ; but it is also true 
that brevity is not necessarily forceful. Note how Dr. 
Phelps, in his desire to impress us with the force of Kos- 
suth 's phrase, multiplies words. He goes into details, 
he reiterates, and he employs figures of speech. Empha- 
sis requires time as well as sheer force. The hearer must 
have time to think, to take in the thought. If you can 
keep me thinking of a matter for an hour, you have made 
that matter important in my eyes. The Gettysburg Ad- 
dress is pointed to as a marvel of brevity ; but if the ut- 
most brevity is good, this speech is verbose. Short as it 
is, it contains words not necessary, and even repetitions. 
Moreover, the times prepared the audience for the speech 
and Edward Everett, who spoke before the President, had 
in a long discourse, reviewed the history which formed a 
background for Lincoln's address. And after all, there 
is strong evidence that the audience were not so much im- 
pressed with the speech as we are. It was too short for 
a hearer, who lacks the reader's opportunity to deliberate. 
When Lincoln debated with Douglas he usually took his 
full two hours. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 157 

Short sermons are especially welcomed. Is it not because we go to 
church from a sense of duty, and because hearers and preachers alike 
often fail to do their share toward making sermons interesting? We 
do not like a really good sermon to stop in fifteen minutes. Some 
may find interest in turning to the Outlook for July 10, 1913, and ex- 
amining the sermon at p. 631, selected and commended for its brev- 
ity. It amuses, it hits its point; but does it satisfy? Is the appli- 
cation clear? Would it be equally good before an ordinary congre- 
gation ? 

A good thing should not be made a fetish. Serious 
Tvriters, including Dr. Phelps, recognize the limitations 
of the doctrine, be brief, and they dwell also upon the 
need for amplification. What, then, is the truth? Am 
I urging you to be as long-winded as you like ? Heaven 
forbid ! Short speeches are usually best. First, we must 
take the familiar suggestion : Consider the circumstances 
and the needs of your audience. Is the brief statement 
sufficiently clear ? sufficiently impressive ? If so, use no 
more words. Secondly, in answering the first question, 
consider whether you are amplifying a thought that de- 
ser\^es emphasis. Thirdly, waste no words. Be eco- 
nomical; but that does not mean niggardly with words, 
as Professor Palmer says ^ Emerson was. An old lawyer 
has said that ^^the number of a man's words should be 
like the length of a blanket, — enough to cover the bed 
and to tuck in besides.'' Do not cut out till the effect is 
bareness. Ask yourself, does the word in question serve 
a proper purpose? AVould one serve as well as two? 
Fourthly, in order to secure needed amplification and yet 
keep our speeches short, ive should narrow our themes. 
There are but few occasions when we are required to cover 
a large subject in a few minutes On the occasion of 
Lincoln's second inaugural there were many topics crying 
for attention; and yet his address was brief because he 

1 Self -Cultivation in English, p. 12, 



158 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

limited his scope. This is the brevity audiences like, that 
of a well developed but limited idea, not that of a bare, 
hard-packed address. A short dull speech may seem 
longer than a long interesting one. 

There is no mistake more common with our college debaters, who 
are compelled to be brief, than that of endeavoring to pack as many 
arguments as possible into five or ten minutes, instead of trying to 
make a few essential points impress and cling to the judges' minds. 

XTnity in variety. I have emphasized the need for 
change and also the need for dwelling upon important 
ideas; and now I emphasize the need for unity, which 
demands that each speech should ' ' group itself about one 
central idea." We must make a distinction between 
merely holding attention through a given period, and 
holding attention to those ideas which, properly im- 
pressed, will accomplish our further purposes. It may be 
possible to hold attention, if that is all that is desired, by 
a series of disconnected ^^hits," whether these be jokes, 
stories, *' purple patches," epigrams, passages of sheer 
beauty, or any other resource of composition and 
delivery; but all this is a waste for a speaker with a 
purpose, unless he has used all to produce a unified 
impression. The importance of unity will grow upon us 
as we study and practise public speaking. 

A writer tells i us the plays of to-day "do not depend for their 
effect upon cumulative interest, but upon individual *punch/ . . . 
Our latest dramatic form combines all forms in a swift medley of 
effects that I can describe by no other term than vaudeville." He 
adds significantly that when the curtain falls, turning from the play 
instantly, *'we lean back into the ordinary world" and "resume con- 
versation interrupted in the subway." 

I have in mind a preacher w^hose sermons might also be described 
as vaudeville. There is the call to laugh and the call to weep, occa- 
sional dashes at the text, anything and everything that will make a 
hit, with extremely slight regard for the supposed theme. When he 

1 Simeon Strunsky, in the Atlantic Monthly for May, 1914, p. 627. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 159 

comes to the final appeal you feel it is simply tacked on to satisfy 
custom ; indeed, you have a sense of surprise that a show should end 
that way. 

Three unities. There is need for unity of thought and 
this is the unity usually emphasized in the texts. What- 
ever is said, however many ideas are advanced, all should 
be subordinated to one central thought which all serve 
to develop. There is also a unity of feeling. However 
many emotions are touched, all should blend to produce 
the desired mood. Both these unities enter into and are 
subordinate to imity of purpose; that is, all that goes into 
a speech should bear the test of promoting understanding, 
inducing belief, or influencing conduct, according to the 
speaker's aim in a given speech. 

Due attention to unity does not preclude variety. 
Variety in unity James declares '' the secret of all interest- 
ing talk and thought. ' ' Other writers say, ^ ' Variety in 
unity is the secret of sustained attention." ^ Unity you 
need ; variety you need ; there is no conflict. While you 
must turn attention from one aspect of your theme to 
another, you should turn to aspects of that part which is 
under consideration. And also, as indicated above, you 
gain variety by stating the same idea in different ways. 
Fix this in mind: Change does not require jumping 
from one topic to another ; or even to another part of the 
same subject than that under consideration. Nor is a 
higgledy-piggledy turning from point to point within 
your proper scope suggested ; rather an orderly, coherent 
procedure, such as will encourage the efforts of your audi- 
ence to see the relations of part to part. 

To illustrate the foregoing we may turn to the selections, Who is 
to Blame? and Await the Issue, in Chapter XIV. Certainly these 
have variety, and their unity is admirable. There is progress ; each 

1 Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior. 



160 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

paragraph serves to give a new view-point; yet each serves the 
central thought and turns attention to it again and again. So evi- 
dent is the central thought in each paragraph that careless sum- 
maries of the paragraphs will be much alike and will really be 
summaries of the whole. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is a re- 
jnarkable example of unity with progress and variety. 

''Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this 
continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the 
proposition that all men are created equal. 

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that 
nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long en- 
dure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have 
come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for 
those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is 
altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

"But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot conse- 
crate — we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and 
dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor 
power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long 
remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did 
here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the 
unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly 
advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great 
task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take 
increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full 
measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead 
shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have 
a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by 
the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 

(Delivered at Gettysburg, November, 1863.) 

Here is unity of thought : all ser^^es to develop the proposition, 
popular government must be preserved in the world. Our fathers 
established a free government ; this war is testing the durability of 
such government ; we have met to honor those who have died that 
it may endure ; we cannot honor them, but we can catch inspiration 
from them and solemnly resolve that free government shall en^ 
dure. Almost every sentence directly echoes or amplifies the 
central thought. There is unity of feeling : veneration for the 
fathers because of the work they wrought for free government; 
sorrow for the dead, pride in their courage and gratitude for their 
sacrifices, and with all a glorying in the conviction that this is a 
struggle for human liberty ; — all these blend into high resolve to 
continue the struggle. That is to say, there is also unity of pur- 
pose : Lincoln wishes to honor the occasion and more to honor 
the dead ; but these purposes accomplished serve the grand purpose 
of inspiring his hearers and the country to greater sacrifices. 

There is a very real temptation to attempt too much in 
a single speech, and the speaker often feels that his 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 161 

hearers ought to be capable of understanding several 
major thoughts in one period, and so they are ; but still 
experience proves that no audience is likely to carry away 
from a discourse more than one important thought ; that 
where there is not proper limitation, elimination and 
subordination of all to one central thought, the audience 
carries away little that is clear and well impressed, and 
that little as often the least important as the most im- 
portant. In exposition, in argument, and particularly 
in persuasion, there is need of ''pounding in" a single 
idea. The hearer, we must always remember, cannot, 
like the reader, review and ponder and so impress many 
thoughts on his mind. The speaker must resist the 
temptation to attempt too much, and consider that he has 
done well if he has clearly and forcefully expressed one 
thought ; very well indeed, if next day his hearers are able 
to state justly his main idea. 

Some analogies may help us to grasp the idea of unity. Al- 
though the painter may give his picture a wealth of detail, yet he 
will strive to make each detail accentuate the central figure. The 
statue of Lincoln, which stands in the park which bears his name in 
Chicago, has been said by a competent authority to owe much 
of its greatness to the fact that every line of the figure leads the 
observer's eye back to Lincoln's face. If this analogy seems to 
suggest that one should be forever circling about his theme and 
never going forward, let us compare a speech to a river which 
grows broader and deeper as it receives its tributaries, some of 
which have their sources far away, and bears all forward in unity. 
Too many speeches are like a stream flowing into a desert, throw- 
ing off one branch here and another there, until all is lost in the 
sand. 

A few specific warnings may assist in securing unity. 
Do not let yourself be led astray by mere association of 
ideas, such as guides most conversations. Each sentence 
may be related to its neighbors, and yet unity of the whole 
be lacking. To give an exaggerated example : 



162 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Speaking of California, I am reminded of her great prune 
orchards. Now prunes properly prepared are an excellent food. I 
do not mean as boarding house keepers prepare them. Boarding 
house keepers are trying to give you as little as possible for your 
money. One can hardly blame them either, with the high cost of 
living, which does not seem after all to be lowered by the new 
tariff law. We had great hopes of better times when Wilson 
put his measures through ; but now it looks as if the House would 
go Republican this fall. But speaking of California, the Progres- 
sives and the women make that state doubtful. I don't know about 
women's suffrage, etc., etc. 

Absurd, do you say ? Of course, but very easy to fall 
into, and not much worse than the production of a dis- 
tinguished preacher who, declaring that Christianity must 
be militant, turned to the militant suffragettes for illus- 
tration and proceeded for several minutes to defend them, 
till the point supposedly being illustrated was quite 
swamped. 

Again, do not think you have unity because all you say 
is or can be related to one subject. You might say a 
thousand things about Lincoln that are not clearly re- 
lated to the particular theme, Lincoln's education. Per- 
haps many of those things could be twisted into some 
semblance of a relation to his education; yet upon the 
whole they would not serve to develop your main thought, 
or the right mood, or make for the end in view. And 
many of the ideas that might be forced into support of 
the central thought, are not worth while for the purpose 
in hand. Unity requires eliminations as well as subordi- 
nation, and many an interesting fact, or seemingly bril- 
liant thought or expression, must be ruthlessly sacrificed. 
Unfortunately few of us have the courage of our judg- 
ment in this sort of self-sacrifice ; but the practical ques- 
tion is. Does this detail serve the purpose? When in 
doubt, omit. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 163 

Some preachers make the mistake of assuming that any thought 
which can be drawn from their text has proper place in their ser- 
mon. I heard a preacher and lecturer of some note preaching on 
the story of Caleb and the other spies who were sent by Moses to 
investigate the land of Canaan.i After a discourse which touched 
on everything which chanced to be in the Doctor's mind that morn- 
ing, he drew these three lessons : 1. It is sometimes a duty to be a 
spy. Spying is not muckraking. 2. Those who make ventures of 
faith are rewarded. 3. The best years of life come after fifty. 

The speaker, then, should ordinarily narrow his theme 
and strive to hold attention to a single idea. If this 
results in monotony or tiresome repetition, it is because 
the speaker is not skilful ; he is not profiting by the les- 
son of variety in unity. It is also probable that his mind 
is not ''richly furnished with materials/' and that for 
lack of sufficient analysis he has not viewed his subject 
in its various aspects and relations. 

Simplicity. Both Genung and Hart, authorities on 
rhetoric, say that unity and simplicity are the most es- 
sential elements in oratorical st3^1e. These are closely 
related ; yet a speech or a sentence may be both perfectly 
unified and very complex. We recall the need for econo- 
mizing the hearer's interpreting power. We may bor- 
row from Genung : ^ 

' ' Words from the every-day vocabulary, simplicity and 
directness of phrase, a strong and pointed sentence struc- 
ture, an ordering of parts made lucid by marked indica- 
tions of plan and consecutiveness, reasoning where there 
is only one step from premise to conclusion and no solu- 
tion is left obscure or in long suspense, — these are the 
economizing agencies which adapt oratorical style to pop- 
ular apprehension. ' ' 

The plan of a speech should be simple and easily com- 
prehended. The sentences should not be involved or 

1 lumbers, 13. 2 Working Principles, p. 653. 



164 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

made heavy with many modifiers ; but there is little use 
in making dogmatic statements in regard to the respective 
merits of long and short sentences, or loose and periodic. 
The question in regard to any sentence is, Will it be 
readily grasped ? A sentence may be very long and have 
many clauses, and yet be easy for the hearer. The last 
sentence of Who is to Blame? is an example; but the 
second sentence in the same paragraph has made much 
trouble. We may say that sentences which require the 
hearer to carry forward much matter of which the bear- 
ing is not evident immediately, will weary an audience, if 
much employed. (See examples in Chapter XIII.) 

Coherence. Closely related to unity and simplicity is 
coherence. To cohere is to stick together. In coherent 
composition the relation of each part to its neighbors and 
to the central thought is unmistakable. This would seem 
to be the requirement of unity, but the emphasis is upon 
unmistakable. Not only should every sentence and para- 
graph have a proper relation, but this should be made 
plain, in order that attention shall not be wasted. 

In securing coherence, much is gained by making a 
clear plan, with main-heads showing clearly their rela- 
tion to each other and to the theme, and with each sub- 
head clear in its relation to its main-head. Most stress is 
laid by the authorities, perhaps, upon clear sequence of 
ideas, as shown by clear transitions from sentence to 
sentence and from paragraph to paragraph. A review of 
*' college orations" shows that a too common method of 
seeking force, a sort of snapping, crackling force, is by 
trimming out connective words and phrases. These have 
been called the *^ hooks and eyes of style," and cannot be 
dispensed with. In listening to such speeches one has 
difficulty in seeing the relation of sentences while keep- 
ing up with the speaker; and often one finds on exam-' 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 165 

ination, that this disconnected method of composing has 
encouraged the speaker in stringing together '* snappy" 
sentences which are not well related. For example : 

*'0n Virginia's historic soil has been proved the fact 
that Revolution may be but a stepping stone for Evolu- 
tion. Man is the center of all evolution. His moral 
growth or decay is irresistible. Innumerable problems 
of human progress are the unwelcome inheritance of 
every generation. To ignore these problems is fatal. 
America is rousing from a moral lethargy; a thrilling 
spirit of reform typifies the present age. The funda- 
mental evil of American society is the industrial basis 
upon which it stands. The State, institutions and men 
are judged from the standpoint of the almighty dollar. 
What are the results of this standard, what does it in- 
volve, and what is the remedy?" 

We shall dwell in Chapter XIII upon the effect of 
echoes, ^'the connective tissue of language/' in binding to- 
gether a speech. Their use is especially notable in the 
Gettysburg Address. Another means is the use of 
parallel constructions; that is, giving similar form to 
phrases of similar significance.^ Wendell speaks of ^Hhe 
amazing value of parallel construction," and he illus- 
trates with the Lord's Prayer. A study of a master of 
speech composition, like Wendell Phillips, will reveal 
much use of connective words, echoes and parallel con- 
structions. I have chosen the following passage,^ not be- 
cause it is the most remarkable for coherence that could 
be found, but because it combines coherence with the 
abrupt force sought in the excerpt above. 

'*In this mass of ignorance, weakness, and quarrel, one 
keen eye saw hidden the elements of union and strength. 
With rarest skill he called them forth and marshaled 

1 Wendell, English Composition, p. 137. 

2 From Phillips's oration on Daniel O'Connell. 



166 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

them into rank. Then this one man, without birth, 
wealth, or office, in a land ruled by birth, wealth, and 
office, molded from these unsuspected elements a power 
which, overawing king, senate, and people, wrote his 
single will on the statute-book of the most olDStinate na- 
tion in Europe. Safely to emancipate the Irish Catho- 
lics, and in spite of Saxon-Protestant hate, to lift all 
Ireland to the level of British citizenship — this wa^ the 
problem which statesmanship and patriotism had been 
seeking for two centuries to solve. For this blood had 
been poured out like water. On this the genius of Swift, 
the learning of Molyneux, and the eloquence of Bushe, 
Grattan, and Burke had i3een wasted. English leaders 
ever since Fox had studied this problem anxiously. They 
saw that the safety of the empire was compromised. At 
one or two critical moments in the reign of George III, 
one signal from an Irish leader would have snapped the 
chain that bound Ireland to his throne. His ministers 
recognized it ; and they tried every expedient, exhausted 
every resource, dared every peril, kept oaths or broke 
them in order to succeed. All failed; and not only 
failed, but acknowledged they could see no way in which 
success could ever be achieved. 

* ' 'Connell achieved it. Out of the darkness, he called 
forth light. Out of this most abject, weak, and pitiable 
of kingdoms, he made a power, and dying, he left in 
Parliament a specter which, unless appeased, pushes 
Whig and Tory ministers alike from their stools. ' * 

Another important consideration in securing coherence 
is point of view. Rhetoricians ^ call attention to the fact 
that in describing a scene one should view all from one 
spot ; or, if one changes view-point, one should give due 
warning. If you were describing the campus as seen 
from the south end, and without warning began to de- 
scribe things as seen from the east, your hearers would 
be in a fine state of confusion. You will see, too, that 
many and rapid changes, even with warning, will be 

1 Of. Baldwin, Composition, Oral and Written, p. 60. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 167 

troublesome. Now, the same confusion will arise if you 
try to speak of arbitration as seen by a soldier, a busi- 
ness man, a humanitarian, all at once; or if you too 
rapidly shift from one to the other. Unnoted shift from 
past to present or to future is also troublesome. 

Emphasis. A large element in speech-making, as re- 
gards both composition and delivery, is emphasis. Em- 
phasis attracts attention, and right emphasis attracts it 
to what should especially be noticed. The term might 
be extended to cover this entire chapter. In its narrower 
sense, emphasis is largely a matter of proportion, giving 
due space to the different ideas of a speech, holding at- 
tention longest upon what is chiefly to be impressed. 
For this purpose we use reiteration and amplification, as 
has been explained. The longer a topic is held before 
attention, — genuine attention, — the more importance it 
gains in the hearer's mind, assuming that attention does 
not reveal its inherent unimportance. Sufficient warn- 
ings have been given against the overuse of any of the 
means of attracting and sustaining attention, such as spe- 
cific enumeration and illustration, at points where em- 
phasis is not desired. 

Delivery. The resources of delivery are, of course, 
available for making a speech coherent and giving due 
emphasis to its parts ; but the speaker should not compose 
sentences and paragraphs which throw the burden of 
labored stress, inflection, etc., upon delivery. New- 
comer says,^ ^^One of the tests of good style is the ease 
with which a reader, reading the work aloud without 
previous acquaintance, will properly stress . . . the dif- 
ferent sentence elements." It is very commonly true 
that beginners will write their opening sentences so that 
their speech subject is swamped in the midst of numerous 
1 Elements of Rhetoric, p. 192. 



168 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

clauses. ^^Seek so to place words," says Genung,^ ''that 
they shall emphasize themselves." It may be added that 
the practice of delivery, and especially the interpretation 
and delivery of selections, tends to develop a sense of 
sound emphasis in composition. 

An admirable treatment of emphasis in composition will be found 
in Baldwin's Composition Oral and Written, p. 19. Especially good 
is his illustration of bad emphasis by developing in the Gettysburg 
Address the less essential part devoted to the battle and shortening 
the appeal to the audience. 

Use of texts on composition. I have no intention of 
giving in this text a systematic treatment of composi- 
tion. I only wish to emphasize those elements which 
class-room experience indicates as needing special atten- 
tion. A fair degree of knowledge of composition on the 
part of my readers must be assumed. For those lacking 
due preparation, and for all with regard to certain ques- 
tions, the references to other texts are given. We should 
note that all that writers on composition have to offer 
on force, strength, energy or vigor of style, however 
named, is germane to the subject of attention; for as we 
recall from Wendell's definition,^ ^ 'force, the emotional 
quality of style," is ''the distinguishing quality of a style 
that holds attention. ' ' 

Much that comes under this head has already been presented. I 
advise you to look up the references given, and in particular to read 
the chapter on Force in Wendell's English Composition, and the 
chapters on Energy in Phelps and Frink's Rhetoric, The latter 
work has the advantage of being written from the speaker's view- 
point. It will be worth while to run over some of its headings here : 

First, the speaker must have forcible thought, thought to which 
forcible expression is appropriate. "Do not take a sledge hammer 
to kill a fly." Then one should write or speak with enthusiasm. 
"Logic set on fire," is one of the definitions of eloquence. It is im- 
portant, further that one prepare with audience in mind, and also 

^Practical Rhetoric, p. 179. ^English Composition, p. 236. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 169 

have some immediate object in view. But enthusiasm must be 
accompanied by self-possession. Delirium and convulsions are not 
strength. Dr. Phelps proceeds to discuss energy as affected by 
words, taking up pure words, Saxon words, specific words, short 
words, onomatopoetic words. He next considers the force of con- 
ciseness, and the weakness of verbosity. The arrangement of a 
sentence for emphasis, and the advantages and disadvantages of 
loose and periodic sentences are treated. A chapter is given to 
figurative language as an element in energy ; but by figures Dr. 
Phelps refers to certain methods of expression which later writers 
do not class as figures, — climax, antithesis, interrogation, colloquy, 
hyperbole, irony, exclamation, vision and apostrophe. Plainly 
enough all these are means of winning special attention. We need 
note only the first three of these so-called figures of speech. 

Climax is more important in speaking than in writing. 
It seems to answer an instinctive demand of the hearer, 
and is the natural expression of one who warms to his 
work. Anticlimax, when it is not burlesque, as in ^^he 
had a good conscience and a Roman nose," is always 
weak. To proceed without increase of force gives much 
the same effect as anticlimax. As a rule, the order of 
climax should be followed within the sentence, in the ar- 
rangement of sentences and in the plan of a speech, 
though there may often be good reason for departing 
from the rule. Wendell says ^ that anticlimax is essen- 
tially false emphasis ; and a speaker realizes this in de- 
livery, when his instinct prompts him to stress the ends 
of sentences, paragraphs and speeches. 

Antithesis is based on contract, with the force of which 
we are already familiar. The antithetic structure makes 
a contrast sharper. 

*'A soft answer turneth away wrath ; but a grievous word 
stirreth up anger." — Proverls. 

"The Puritans hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the 
bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators." — Macaulay. 

"It is because Shakespeare dares, and dares very frequently, 
. . . simply to be foolish, that he is so preeminently wise ; the 
others try to be always wise, and, alas ! it is not necessary to com- 
plete the antithesis." — Saintshury, 

"i- English Composition^ p. 133. 



170 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Interrogation. Says Phelps: '^ Few expedients of 
speech so simple as this are so effective in giving vigor to 
style. Composition comparatively dull may be made 
comparatively vivacious, and so far forcible, by a liberal 
use of interrogatives. . . . Put it to the hearer as if he 
must sharpen it by a response." Plainly enough, ques- 
tions tend to bring the conversational quality into deliv- 
ery, to bring speaker and hearer into contact. The virtue 
of interrogation is in its prompting the hearer to think 
for himself. Mr. Bryan says of it : ^ 

^'The interrogatory is frequently employed by the 
orator, and when wisely used is irresistible. What dy- 
namic power, for instance, there is in that question pro- 
pounded by Christ, ^ What shall it profit a man if he gain 
the whole world and lose his own soul ? ' Volumes could 
not have presented so effectively the truth that he sought 
to impress upon his hearers. ' ' 

The effective phrase. There are college students who 
are far too fond of striking phrases, and who carry their 
labors to the point of affectation. They frequently try 
to make expression take the place of thought. It has 
been my fortune to meet, in large universities with many 
technical courses, more of those who despise any careful 
attention to phraseology. ^^What 's the odds if people 
only get it?'' they demand; and do not see that they beg 
the question. If one's words are not precise, or are of- 
fensive to the taste of one's hearers, if one's con- 
structions are cloudy and weak, then one's hearers do 
not ''get it," or not with full force. The idea of effi- 
ciency, which has taken a strong hold upon present-day 
technical students, can be applied to language. The way 

1 World's Famous Orations^ Introduction. 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 171 

we do things counts. Those who can appreciate good 
form in pulling an oar or in driving a golf ball, ought not 
to be at a loss to realize the importance of the manner of 
expressing ideas. 

There is a false notion of sincerity which lies back of 
the notion that it is unworthy of a man to try to say 
things well. ^ ^ If a man has a worthy thing to say, ' ' ex- 
claimed Henry Van Dyke,^ * ^ shall h^ not think it worth 
while to find a worthy way to say it?" AYhat is it we 
instinctively object to? I do not believe the man lives 
who does not respond to really good expression. Is not 
our objection to the effort to make a commonplace idea 
sound profound, the use of the ^ ^feeble forcible" in an 
effort to make a puny thought startling ? The refusal to 
say a simple thing simply produces bombast, against 
which we properly react. There are those, also, who 
carefully avoiding the ^^highfalutin," and even honest 
eloquence, yet indulge in so much cleverness that one 
feels they are trying to be ^^ smart." They attract at- 
tention less to their ideas than to their way of expressing 
them. And this, like a showy gesture, is both ineffective 
and in bad taste. It is neither the ''big bow-wow," once 
so common in American oratory, nor affectedly clever 
expression, that is urged upon you; but just an honest 
effort to give effective, fitting expression to your thoughts 
and feelings, so that without waste they shall hold and 
impress the attention of your audience. And if your 
words, without attracting attention to their beauty 
and rhythm, give your audience pleasure, so much the 
better. 

Some stand by the great half truth: If you think 

1 Caught from a sermon and perhaps not exactly Dr. Van Dyke's 
words. 



172 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

clearly and vigorously, you will express yourself clearly 
and vigorously. It is true you cannot speak clearly and 
vigorously until you so think, and that clear, vigorous 
thought will tend to secure fiting expression ; but there is 
also need for study and strenuous endeavor. And we 
must remember that the very effort for clear, vigorous 
expression reacts to clarify and strengthen our thought. 
We should remember, too, that we are students, not 
masters ; and that if we are to be ready in the crises we 
look forward to, when with smoothly working minds and 
ready command of ample vocabularies, we shall meet un- 
expected emergencies, we shall have to train ourselves 
well. Those who would say. Just be natural, were well 
answered by Professor George L. Burr in his address 
upon Robert Collier, the famous preacher, who in his 
eighties could still hold the delighted attention of his 
congregations: 

''I know thoughtless folk who found the secret of his 
power in what they called his 'naturalness.' 'Why, to 
him it was all natural; he only needed to be himself.' 
My friends, I knew him well. . . . Do you think that 
to be natural costs nothing ? Why, just to tell the truth 
is consummate art. Bluntness is not truth-telling. 
Bluntness is for those too lazy to tell the precise truth. 
. . . Read those letters of his early manhood . . . and 
compare them with the ripened magic of his later 
speech. ' ' 

Those who confuse muddled thinking and muddy expression with 
sincerity may learn again from that book of wisdom, Alice in Won- 
derland : 

*'Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on. 

*'I do," Alice hastily replied ; ''at least — at least I mean what 
I say — that 's the same thing, you know." 

"Not the same thing a bit !" said the Hatter. "Why, you might 
just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same as 'I eat what 
I see' !'' 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 173 

Slang. There are some who seem to have no forceful 
way of expressing themselves save in slang. Slang is a 
matter to be treated with common sense. We must admit 
that its use is not a crime and that it is sometimes ef- 
fective. Nevertheless, I advise the young speaker 
strongly against any considerable indulgence in slang. 
First, we must recognize that there are going to be many 
times when slang will be unwise and inappropriate. Yet 
we are such creatures of habit that, if we use it habitu- 
ally, we shall with difficulty avoid slang when we stand 
up to speak extemporaneously. And the effort to do so 
will greatly restrain our freedom. We shall be at a loss 
for words. Our sentences will frame themselves for our 
customary slang, which will either pop out in spite of us, 
or we shall have to hem and haw and start anew. If we 
cannot leave off our slang altogether, let us at least make 
a practice of leaving it out of our speech upon the plat- 
form; let slang have no part in our platform conscious- 
ness. At most, let us use slang only when we are sure 
that no good English expression will do as well. 

In the second place, we must recognize that the con- 
stant use of slang limits our vocabulary. The English 
language has resources never dreamed of by the slangy 
person. He would need several good English expres- 
sions to convey all the meanings and shades of meaning 
which he covers with ' ' a peach, " or ^ ' going some. ' ' And 
mind you, this use of a single term for many shades of 
meaning indicates and encourages lack of discrimination 
in thinking. In the third place, we must recognize that 
what seems very effective to some may be very ineffective 
and even repulsive to those of better taste and judg- 
ment. That one may get a laugh by an atrocious bit of 
slang does not mean that it has served his real purpose. 



174 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

There are many atrocious ways of drawing a laugh from 
an audience, — sometimes a laugh from the more vulgar 
portion while the rest shiver. We should notice, of 
course, that there is slang and slang ; that some is almost 
necessary in discussing certain themes in certain places, 
and that in any case there is a wide difference between 
such mild slang as ^^ something doing" and such a sense- 
less vulgarity as ^^feed your face." But one who in- 
dulges greatly in slang is not likely to have a fine taste 
in the matter. 

Work to do. The student at this stage may make 
speeches in each of which he gives special thought to one 
of the suggestions of this chapter. Especially profitable 
will it be to select topics unpromising from the stand- 
point of interest, with a view to evoking as much interest 
as possible. He will profit also by the study of the ex- 
perience of others. For this purpose I advise at this 
point the study of the so-called occasional addresses, 
rather than speeches that have responded to personal or 
national crises; for crises are likely to supply interest 
regardless of the skill of the speaker. 

For the purpose, Baker's Forms of PuMic Address will be found 
as good as any single volume. Wood's After-Dinner Speeches is an 
interesting collection. Reed's Modern Eloquence, in ten volumes, 
contains speeches of all kinds in great number. 

Conclusion. To lay down a few simple, arbitrary rules 
for securing attention would seem very helpful, and 
would better satisfy a certain type of mind than a dis- 
cussion of principles ; yet is it not manifestly a mistake 
to be dogmatic about matters so dependent upon condi- 
tions ? ^ ' It is better not to know so much than to know 
so much that isn't so." My only hope is that the stu- 
dent of this chapter will become intelligent in regard to 
its problems. I do not mean to say that one should use 



ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE 175 

all or any of the methods of this chapter in a given case ; 
but I am confident that the principles will be found help- 
ful in most cases. Especially do I hope that they will aid 
in the interpretation of individual experience. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE EXPOSITORY SPEECH 

The second purpose of a speaker, in our classification, 
is to make clear, to explain. Exposition is not always 
easily distinguished from other forms of discourse; but 
it is sufficiently accurate to say that when the chief pur- 
pose of a speech is understanding, the speech is exposi- 
tory, though the means may include narration, descrip- 
tion, and even argument. 

Importance of exposition. There are good reasons why 
the student of public speaking should give some atten- 
tion to exposition, although to convince and to persuade 
are more often his purposes. -First, there are many 
times in which understanding is his final aim. This is 
particularly true in lectures, and is often true in busi- 
ness affairs. '^Secondly, exposition is often the basis of 
speeches which aim at conviction or persuasion. Most 
disputes are due to different understandings of facts. 
There can be no sound argument without clear exposition 
as its foundation. Sometimes all one has to do to win an 
argument, is to set forth lucidly the facts in the case. 
It is said that judges would often stop Lincoln after his 
statement of fact and before he began to argue, with 
**Now we will hear the other side." To convince a man- 
ager that he should adopt a certain machine may re- 
quire only that you demonstrate its operation to him. 
Thirdly, the student finds the exposition of subjects in 
which he is interested quite as good as any other kind of 

176 



THE EXPOSITORY SPEECH 177 

speech for helping him to forget himself. There are 
probably more students interested in subjects adapted to 
exposition than in those adapted to argument; but all 
kinds should be used in practice. 

V Speeches purely expository. In taking up the explana- 
tory speech, I advise that the first attempt be pure expo- 
sition; that is, a speech in which understanding is the 
final aim. If you choose to explain the Diesel engine, 
stop with explanation and avoid all argument that it is 
better than another type. If you choose to explain the 
ethical doctrine of hedonism, do not attempt to prove it 
right or wrong. Keep as far from advocacy as if you 
were explaining the seasons on Mars. This does not 
mean that you must be dull and cold. You should be 
highly interested ; but your dominant emotion should be 
desire to make your hearers understand. There is a 
reason back of this suggestion. If you are using your 
explanation as an argument, you are likely to neglect 
clearness and also to warp your exposition in your desire 
to advocate. l/You should learn to make the most impar- 
tial explanations. Indeed, you should make an impar- 
tial explanation, even when you are to base argument 
upon it. Authorities agree to the doctrine, which young 
speakers find hard to accept and older ones to practise, 
that the introductory and incidental explanations in de- 
bate should be without bias ; not only because this is the 
honest method, but also because it is most effective to 
give an exposition which the other party must acknowl- 
edge fair. 

Argumentative speeches expository in method. After 
one has practised somewhat upon the purely expository 
speech, one may take up speeches in which exposition is 
used as a method of convincing or persuading ; for exam- 
ple, one may explain the commission form of government 



178 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

in such a way that its virtues become apparent. "We can 
see at once the temptation to distort the facts ; but prop- 
erly used this is as legitimate as any method of argument. 
Methods of exposition. It is not my purpose to discuss 
at length in this text the methods of exposition. The 
• essential element is clearness, to which we have already 
given attention. First, one should analyze the topic or 
process or problem to be explained, in order to determine 
the elements that need attention, and to make under- 
standing easier by the consideration of but one feature at 
a time. Then there is need of clear definition of such 
terms as are unfamiliar, or are used in special senses, or 
terms of which the popular understanding is vague or 
confused.^ A third means of explaining is by giving ex- 
amples, as in the actual exhibition of articles or pictorial 
representations of them, or by citing instances. Much 
that has been said of illustration is applicable here. Of 
great importance in exposition is the comparing and con- 
trasting of what is to be explained with what is already 
understood, and this suggests again the need of knowing 
the information and the limitations of one's hearers. 
The English game of football, says a student, stands be- 
tween the American Association football and basketball. 
Assuming that this is sound, and that his hearers know 
the games mentioned, by indicating now the points of 
likeness and of difference, he can give them an under- 
standing of the English game. This is our standard 
method : This unfamiliar game, form of government, be- 
lief, automobile is like this familiar game, etc., except — . 
Clearly enough, the appeal to imagination is important 
in explaining things and processes not before the eyes. 
The -selection of details, the order of their presentation, 

1 A good example of definition will be found in. Baker's Principles 
of Argumentation, pp. 24-36. This is especially valuable as in- 
dicating the uses and the limitations of the dictionary. 



THE EXPOSITORY SPEECH 179 

the suppression of what is not pertinent and helpful, 
unity, emphasis, coherence, point of view, — all these are 
important in exposition. 

For further study I suggest the chapter on Clearness in Wen- 
dell's English Composition, followed by what is said on exposition 
and the examples in Gardiner's Forms of Prose Literature, La- 
mont's Specimens of Exposition, with its introduction, Genung's 
Working Principles of Rhetoric and Jeliffe's Handbook of Exposi- 
tion, A more elementary work, Elements of English Conipositioru 
by Gardiner, Kittredge and Arnold, contains a simple treatment 
of exposition with suggestive examples. Observe the means by 
which the explanations are made interesting ; and also the use of 
narration and of charts. Any good work on argumentation will 
furnish a treatment of exposition as an aid to argument. 

Examples of exposition should be studied in addition to those 
in the works referred to, which are for the most part not drawn 
from speech literature. The lecture is the form best adapted to 
our purpose. Find lectures that are pure exposition, and also 
those that utilize exposition in arguments, such as Huxley's lec- 
tures on Evolution. 

Pictures, charts and maps. I wish to make some 
simple suggestions that are the product of experience in 
my own classes ; and first in regard to the use of charts 
and the like. These are especially important in exposi- 
tion, and some explanations are impossible without them. 
A plan of battle, a machine, or a building, plainly enough 
need graphic representation, if accuracy of understand- 
ing is sought. We find too that complicated statistics, 
as of the increase of population or the increased cost of 
living, are better understood when worked out in 
'^ curves." Stereopticon pictures, and even moving pic- 
tures, are likely to have a large part in instruction in the 
future. 

In using any graphic representation, be sure to have it 
large and distinct enough for a^l to see, else it may prove 
only an annoyance. ^ Superfluity of detail is a common 
cause of indistinctness. A map with only necessary 



180 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

details and with sharp distinctions in colors, is better 
adapted to public work than the most complete publica- 
tion. It is unwise to embellish a diagram with details 
which are not pertinent. These are objectionable, not 
only as decreasing the distinctness of essential details, 
but as distracting attention and perhaps provoking curi- 
osity as to where they come into the explanation. 
/ Avoid complexity so far as you can. That is, if you 
/are explaining the steam engine to those not learned in its 
workings, present a simple form of it, one which embodies 
the principle but lacks elaboration; then if it is desired 
to explain the elaborations, these may be sketched in or 
presented in a series of charts. 

President Schurman, in his lecture on The Balkan Wars, shows 
a map of the Balkan countries before the first war of 1913 began ; 
another of the boundaries after this war, with the disputed ter- 
ritory indicated ; and a third map of the countries after the second 
war. 

A speaker who has confidence in his handling of chalk 
or crayon, may sometimes find it advantageous to de- 
velop his chart from the simplest outlines to its completed 
form as he speaks. This gives well the idea of progress 
and development ; as for instance in describing an army 's 
campaign. A speaker who attempts drawing on the 
platform should know precisely what he is going to do, 
what details he is to use and what scale is needed. Then 
he should practise the drawing to make sure he can do it. 
It is well, if the drawing presents any difficulty, to pre- 
pare paper with the whole or certain details and pivotal 
points faintly indicated, or with the bare outlines boldly 
marked. 

There are certain advantages over drawing on the plat- 
form, in a series of prepared charts. First, the series 
keeps a better means of comparison before the audience 



THE EXPOSITORY SPEECH 181 

at all stages of the speech. To attempt to indicate dif- 
ferent stages with different colors or other means on one 
chart, is usually confusing. Secondly, the prepared 
charts are likely to be better made. Thirdly, drawing 
upon the platform may attract too much attention to it- 
self as an act. Either very clumsy drawing or a display 
of skill may be too interesting, even amusing. Fourthly, 
drawing which requires much care may take the speaker's 
attention unduly from his audience. These comments, 
however, need deter no one from a few simple strokes. 
Here, as in all, the speaker's business is to keep atten- 
tion upon essentials. 

One should resist the temptation to look at a chart 
when not speaking of it. The young speaker especially 
finds his chart a welcome refuge from the eyes of his 
audiences; but also those not embarrassed find their 
charts drawing them unduly. The audience is only too 
ready to look at anything their attention is called to. 
It is often best to keep charts out of sight until they are 
needed, and to remove them from sight when their use is 
finished, unless to do so distracts attention more than 
their presence. A little preparatory ingenuity may well 
be exercised. Even when referring to his chart, the 
speaker should avoid as far as possible turning his back to 
his audience. A glance at the chart is enough to give 
him his direction and he can keep his eyes upon his 
hearers most of the time. He should avoid talking to 
the blackboard; lest he become indistinct and lose touch 
with his audience. 

Do not stand between audience and chart when it is in 
use. The speaker should stand to one side, facing the 
front as nearly as is convenient, and using for pointing 
the hand nearest the chart ; that is, if he is at the right 
of his chart he should use his left hand. It is best in 



182 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

most cases to have a pointer, as this helps in keeping out 
of the line of vision. 

Degree of clearness. Wendell^ defines clearness as 

. ^Hhe distinguishing quality of a style that cannot be mis- 
understood/' This sets up an ideal, but a good ideal to 
have in mind. Students of public speech are apt to take 
as their standard a style that can be understood, throwing 
upon their hearers rather than assuming themselves the 
task of making their thoughts as clear as possible. They 
rarely appreciate the difficulty of making one 's thoughts 
clear. Painful experience brings home the truth that 
language is at best but a poor instrument, that it is in- 
deed difficult to tell the truth, and that to convey fully an 
idea above the grade of ^'It is now ten o'clock," is a 
marvel. Words have different shades of meaning in dif- 
ferent minds, and the prepossessions of one's hearers 
may make confusion of the most careful statement. 
Those who have an erroneous understanding of a matter 
will often adapt a correct explanation to their own mis- 
conception, hearing what coincides and ignoring what 
does not coincide with their expectations. It would be 
illuminating for the average student to give a class direc- 
tions for work and discover how many different under- 
standings a class of twenty-five will gain. The only safe 

^ standard is, be as clear as you can under the circum- 
stances ; and what you cannot make clear, do not attempt. 
Consider the audience. But clearness is a relative 
matter, and the question at once arises, Clear to whom? 
Must one seek to be clear to the youngest or least intelli- 
gent person present; so clear that '^the wayfaring man 
though a fool need not err therein"? No, that might be 
to bore the more intelligent ; but on the other hand, one 
cannot afford to leave any large portion of an audience in 
1 English Composition, p. 194. 



THE EXPOSITORY -PEECI 1 iS 

the dark. There is no rule to gi \ ^ust sim}:i\' treat 

the situation intelligently. But ii he i ' ^ear 

and concrete in his method, uses simpiv. ug- 

>4ish, and yet avoids all suggestion of ci > 

can usually satisfy most of the intelliger 
ence. 

The public speaker should eschew all affee on of 
profundity and high-sounding language; and be is sim 
^ple as the nature of his subject and his purpose permit. 
In particular, he should not indulge in that false pro- 
fundity which is really only lack of clear analysis. 

College students and clearness. My observation is that 
students are to some extent unfitted for explanation be- 
fore general audiences by their school training. They 
are trained for many years in explaining in recitations, 
reports and examinations, to teachers who understand 
better than they themselves. In explaining to a teacher 
the aim is not really to make clear, but to convince the 
teacher that one understands. And the teacher, usually 
unable to put himself in the position of one uninformed, 
pressed for time, and pleased with some slight evidence 
of understanding, rarely insists upon a full explanation. 
As a result, the student does not come to feel the need for 
clear analysis (an analysis has usually been given him), 
of simplifying terms, of finding the best order, of repe- 
tition, illustration, helpful schemes, summaries, and all 
that makes for clear exposition to those who do not un- 
derstand in advance. When he addresses a general au- 
dience, he gives a few bare statements and wonders that 
he is not understood. 

Emotion and exposition. Gardiner^ stresses the fact 
that even in exposition, the coldest form of discourse, we 
cannot disregard the feelings of our audience. By this 
1 Forms of Prose Literature, pp. 56, 61. 



184 PUBLIC STREAKING 

he mea'is chiefly that we must make our exposition in- 
teresting; ^ 'Ur hearers may be more than indiffer- 
ent; tjv ' , yQ prejudiced. They may be so accus- 
tomc certain way of thinking/ or method, or 
mac' . they positively object to hearing of any 
others, ziudienees may easily be found who would object 
t > the most impartial attempt to expound to them evolu- 
tluD, ihe peace propaganda, or socialism. It may be 
necessary before explanation is attempted, to interest 
sue]} an audience, perhaps somewhat indirectly, in the 
distasteful topic. In general, tact is needed. Tact may 
he needed also to avoid boring or even offending the 
better informed portion of an audience, while explaining 
eUmentary facts to the less informed; and more in cor- 
recting the mistaken notions of those who think they 
understand. A speaker need not say bluntly that his 
audience is ignorant; but may present the matter as if 
reviewing or setting in order, or he may say that he will 
state for the benefit of a few what many of the audience 
are probably familiar with. 



CHAPTER VIII 

PERSUASION — INFLUENCING CONDUCT 

It is convenient to use the word persuasion when we 
come to treat of influencing conduct. The word is not 
without its difficulties, since usage varies; yet there 
seems to be no good substitute. A review of the au- 
thorities justifies us in accepting tentatively Whateley's ^ 
definition of the word: ^ ^ Persuasion, properly so- 
called, i. e., the art of influencing the will." To influ- 
ence the will is identical with influencing conduct, and 
includes inducing or checking single acts or affecting a 
prolonged course of conduct; but, as we shall use the 
term persuasion, it is not limited to inducing physical 
acts, but includes changing the mental attitude, as by 
removing prejudice, bringing about a fair-minded atti- 
tude toward a person, a willingness to consider a proposi- 
tion, or a desire to accept it. The term is broad enough 
to include conviction, but it is convenient to use the latter 
term to designate the process of ^^ bringing any one to 
recognize the truth of what he has not before accepted. ' ' ^ 

In the usage of many persuasion and conviction are synonyms, as 
are also the verbs persuade and co7ivince; that is, persuasion is 
used to cover the meanings ascribed to both above, though conviction 
is limited to inducing belief. Thus, the Neio English Dictionary de- 
fines persuasion as ''the presenting of inducements or winning argu- 
ments, the addressing of reasonings, appeals, entreaties to a person 
to do or believe something." But when the words are distinguished, 
they are most often distinguished as above ; and, at least so far as 
the verbs are concerned, there is some tendency to insist upon the 

1 Elements of Rhetoric, p. 117. 2 j^eio English Dictionary, 

185 



186 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

distinction. The same dictionary defines persuade: "To induce to 
believe something" ; but adds that this use is "somewhat archaic." 
It then gives the further definition : "To induce or win to an act 
or a course of action ; to draw the will of another to something by 
inclining his judgment or desire to it ; to prevail upon, or urge 
successfully to do something." The Century Dictionary says : 
"To convince a person is to satisfy his understanding as to the truth 
of a certain statement ; to persuade him is, by derivation, to affect 
his will by motives, but it has long been used also for convince. . . . 
There is a marked tendency now to confine persuade to its own dis- 
tinctive meaning." Fernald's Synonyms distinguishes thus : "To 
persuade is to bring the will of another to a desired decision by some 
influence exerted upon it short of compulsion ; one may be con- 
vinced that the earth is round ; he may be persuaded to travel around 
it." And the following is from Smith's Synonyms Discriminated: 
"To persuade has much in common with convince ; but conviction 
is the result of the understanding, persuasion of the will. . . . We 
are convinced of truth and facts. We are persuaded to act and be- 
have. . . . We may be persuaded to act against conviction." In 
dealing with words so lacking in precision, we can only fix upon 
meanings for ourselves, preferably those supported by the best usage, 
and then try to follow them consistently. 

Those to whom the term persuasion means inducing to believe 
usually distinguish it from conviction by saying that to persuade is 
to secure belief by rather emotional methods, while to convince is 
to use logic and reasoning. So TJie Standard Dictionary says per- 
suade means "to induce to believe willingly." Here we have, prob- 
ably, a hint of why the words convince and persuade have been con- 
fused : To induce a man to believe it is often necessary to make him 
willing to consider the proposition at all, to remove prejudice and 
induce a willingness to believe. Now this is a matter of emotional 
attitude, and changing emotional attitude is included in the proper 
work of persuasion. In this position I have the support of Baker's 
Principles of Argumentation^ in which it is said (p. 7) : "Convic- 
tion aims only to produce agreement between writer and reader; 
persuasion aims to prepare the way for the process of conviction 
and to produce action as the result of conviction." i 

1 1 am aware that a seemingly simple way to cut the Gordian knot 
of these entwined meanings is to declare that inducing to believe 
and to act are one and the same thing. I admit that we secure the 
two ends by much the same processes, but that does not make them 
identical. It seemis to be chiefly a matter of how much meaning 
one gives the term believe. If we say the only difference between 
believing and acting is one of extension, still we must recognize that 
difference. I cannot bring myself to this easy solution. The dis- 
tinction seems to me a valuable one, and it certainly is imbedded 
in the common sense of the race. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 187 

There are those who feel that the word persuasion is tainted with 
a suggestion of improper methods. This probably arises from the 
erroneous belief that our emotions are necessarily unworthy. Emo- 
tions are important in persuasion, and they may be used improperly, 
just as false facts and fallacious reasoning may be employed. At 
any rate, please understand that in all our discussion persuasion 
is free from any moral implication. 

Belief and action. Nothing would seem to be a plainer 
lesson of experience than that we mortals often leave 
undone those things we know we ought to do and do 
those things we know we ought not to do ; yet this truth 
is constantly ignored by speakers, and with bad results. 
This truth is proverbial : ' ' The spirit is willing, but the 
flesh is weak'' ; Video meliora proboque; deteriora sequor. 
Certain knowledge that lack of exercise is ruining one's 
health does not necessarily drive one out of doors; yet 
one does not for a moment believe that one's work or 
pleasure is worth the cost. There must be, then, more 
than intellectual acceptance of truth to secure action. 

It may seem absurd to insist upon such a truism as that men do 
not always act in accordance with judgment ; but I write out of 
memory of classroom struggles. When regarding a cold, barren, 
tactless speech I have asked, *'What elements of persuasion does 
this contain?" I have received the answer, "Does it not prove my 
claim? What more is needed?" Apparently I have appeared a 
shocking cynic when I have suggested that men are not always gov- 
erned by pure reason. What marvels we should be if we lived up, 
as is assumed, to all we agree to in the words of our preachers ! 
But— 

"The sermon now ended, 
Each turned and descended. 
The eels went on eeling. 
The pike went on stealing ; 
Much delighted were they. 
But — ^preferred the old way." 

Persuasion an everyday matter. Let us get clearly in 
mind that we are not dealing with an artificial or un- 
usual problem. When you induce a man to join your 
party, or buy an automobile, or improve his habits, or go 



188 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

fishing with you, or pay his bills, or open his mind to the 
possibility that the Germans, or the English, are well- 
meaning men, you are persuading him. Persuasion is as 
familiar as living, and you will recognize at once its 
means, such as arguments, motives, suggestions, personal 
influence, tact. 

Importance of persuasion to the speaker. When Henry 
Ward Beecher said : ^ ' ^ I define oratory to be the art of 
influencing conduct with truth sent home by all the re- 
sources of the living man,'' he was expressing the ancient 
and true belief in regard to the. peculiar and highest 
purpose of public speech. Not all speech-making is 
oratory, but there can be little doubt that the chief pur- 
pose of public speaking is persuasion. It is in persua- 
sion that the spoken word is superior to the written. 
Speaking generally, the written word is more effectual 
for making ideas clear ; but when men are to be aroused 
to act, to vote, to change a habit, to adopt a course of 
conduct, to kindle with enthusiasm, then the speaker is 
needed. 

Let us glance at the more common forms of public discourse. 
College lectures form an exceptional group ; their end is usually in- 
struction. But when a college professor delivers a lecture which has 
as its end the cultivation of a taste for good literature, or a high 
sense of professional honor, he is persuading. On Chautauqua and 
lyceum platforms some lectures are for entertainment, some for in- 
struction, but many are persuasive, as those by Bryan and by La- 
Follette. 

In deliberative speeches, before legislatures, conventions, or on 
the stump, wherever policies are to be decided by vote, persuasion 
is prominent in the appeal to motive, the arousal of feeling and the 
recognition of prejudice. In the pulpit persuasion is the dominant 
note ; exposition and argument are but means to the end of influenc- 
ing conduct. All other kinds of speeches are loosely classed as Occa- 
sional. It is true that their end often seems to be mere entertain- 
ment ; or the display of the speaker's powers, as in Webster's over- 

1 Lecture entitled Oratory. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 189 

rated Bunker Hill addresses. But the more serious purpose of such 
memorial addresses, addresses at celebrations and eulogies, is to 
inspire the hearers to greater patriotism or nobler living. Lincoln's 
Gettysburg Address is a model in miniature for all such orations. 
The moral is not alwaj's pointed ; the most persuasive speeches often 
let the exhortation be implied. 

Even at jovial banquets few speakers will be content merely to 
**give a stunt" ; there is usually a persuasive point. The fun is used 
for a purpose beyond itself ; though there are occasions when any 
serious purpose is manifestly out of place. But most banquets at 
which there is speaking, are not merely jovial. It was at the annual 
dinner of the New England Society, in December, 1876, that George 
William Curtis delivered his speech on The Puritan Principle : Lib- 
erty under the Law, which, though it began humorously and blended 
with the spirit of the occasion, yet, in the judgment of Edward 
Everett Hale, turned the nation from civil war over the contested 
presidential election of that year. 

With regard to forensic addresses, it is well known that lawyers 
indulge in more than logical discussion of the evidence; and even 
before the highest court persuasion has its place. Webster's plea 
before the Supreme Court in the Dartmouth College case is the stock 
example. Gardiner's Forms of Prose Literature (pp. 79, 316) fur- 
nishes opportunity for an interesting study of Joseph Choate's argu- 
ment against the Income Tax law of 1894, with reference to its 
persuasion. 

Hearers classified with reference to persuasion. First, 
there are those who come already in agreement with the 
speaker. Of these there are some (a) eager to follow 
his lead ; as is the ease with strong partizans listening to 
a speaker of the same political party. These the speaker 
may consider among his assets, helpful by their sym- 
pathy and also by their influence in moving other ele- 
ments in the audience, (b) There may be others in 
agreement who are as yet indifferent. Some of these 
may be of the ^^ small-pot-soon-hot" kind, who are also 
soon cooled. They may serve as a sort of kindling wood, 
with their easy enthusiasm ; but since they cannot be de- 
pended upon, they are the despair of earnest workers. 
They are the ''stony ground hearers" of the parable of 



190 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

the seed-sowing. The problem is to deepen their convic- 
tions and to make upon them an enduring impression. 
There may be others in agreement but without keen in- 
terest, who are phlegmatic and difficult to arouse. They 
lie heavily on the speaker's spirits; but may be better 
worth effort than the class just referred to. They are 
likely to stay by. 

Secondly, we may have in our audience a neutral ele- 
ment, (a) There are likely to be some who may be won 
by simply awakening their interest; or who may easily 
be thrown into opposition by tactlessness. They require 
little argument ; and will be little affected by argument, 
once in opposition, (b) The far more important divi- 
sion of the neutral group consists of those who listen 
judicially. They will give a fair hearing; but they 
will scrutinize every statement and argument, and will 
resist every attempt to sweep them from their intellectual 
moorings by emotional appeal. They have to be shown 
that the proposition is sound and the motives sufficient. 
Such men are likely to be of weight in the audience and 
in the community, and are worth the winning. Here 
we first come upon a class whose winning calls notably 
for argument. 

The third grand division consists of those in active 
opposition. One group of these is composed of the un- 
thinking, against the proposal because they do not un- 
derstand it, or because it is new and runs counter to 
their traditions, prejudices and habits. To their minds 
the proposal is simply not to be thought of; and they 
will refuse a genuine hearing unless by a tactful ap- 
proach, explanations, or the presentation of some strong 
motive, their attitude is changed, (b) Most doughty 
opponents of all are those who have considered the 
proposition and decided against it. For them the mat- 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 191 

ter is settled, and they listen with resisting minds, hear- 
ing arguments for the proposal only to rebut them. But 
since they are thinking men, if their minds can be opened 
to genuine reconsideration, they may be won by cogent 
argument. Most difficult of all, almost hopeless in fact, 
are those who, whether thoughtful or not, see in your 
proposal danger to their selfish interests, or those whom 
pride, affections, or established beliefs hold on the other 
side. 

Such a classification might be much elaborated and varied ; and 
is, of course, rather artificial. The thinking man is not free from 
prejudice, the prejudiced man may be a clear thinker once preju- 
dice is allayed, the indifferent man may become an enthusiast, and 
a man light-minded when approached in one way may be serious 
approached in another. Nevertheless, the classification helps us 
in understanding our problem, especially in realizing the important 
fact that "many men have many minds." 

Our plan. To treat fully each of these groups would 
require a volume; but by considering two of the prob- 
lems suggested rather fully, we shall be able to under- 
stand the others. Roughly speaking, we shall in this 
chapter deal chiefly with those hearers who are not so 
much to 'be convinced that the speaker's proposal is 
sound as aroused to interest and action ; while in the next 
chapter attention will be given chiefly to those who must 
first be convinced. 

The foundation principle of persuasion. We now need 
a principle by means of which we can systematize the 
suggestions for persuasion drawn from common experi- 
ence. Why do we will to do or not to do? We turn 
again to Professor James : ^ 

''What holds attention determines action. ... It 
seems as if we ought to look for the secret of an idea's 
impulsiveness ... in the urgency with which it is able 

1 Briefer Course, p. 448. 



192 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

to compel attention and dominate in consciousness. Let 
it once so dominate, let no other ideas succeed in displac- 
ing it, and whatever motor effects belong to it by nature 
will inevitably occur. ... In short, one does not see any 
case in which the steadfast occupancy of consciousness 
does not appear to be the prime condition of impulsive 
power. It is still more obviously the prime condition of 
inhibitive power. What checks our impulses is the mere 
thinking of reasons to the contrary — it is their bare pres- 
ence in the mind which gives the veto, and makes acts, 
otherwise seductive, impossible to perform. If we could 
only forget our scruples, our doubts, our fears, what ex- 
ultant energy we should for a while display!" 

^ ^'Consent to the idea's undivided presence, this is 
effort's sole achievement. Its only function is to get 
this feeling of consent into the mind. And for this there 
is but one way. The idea to be consented to must be 
kept from flickering and going out. It must be held 
steadily before the mind until it fills the mind. ' ' 

^ '^ We thus find that we reach the heart of our inquiry 
into volition when we ask by what process it is that the 
thought of any given action comes to prevail stahly in the 
mind.'' 

Support for this theory is abundant. Thus Angell says : s "Vo- 
lition is nothing more or less than a matter of attention. When we 
can keep our attention firmly fixed upon a line of conduct to the 
exclusion of all competitors, our decision is already made." And 
Titchener says : 4 "So far as I can see the term Viir affords the 
best general title for two great groups of psychological facts : the 
facts of attention and the facts of action. There can, I think, be 
no doubt that these two groups are intimately related, that action is 
simply a special case of attention." 

''What holds attention determines action." To do an 
act, then, give it exclusive attention. To resist an im- 
pulse, keep your mind upon other ideas, reasons why 

1 Briefer Course, p. 452. 

2 Idem, p. 450. 

3 Psychologij, p. 397. Cf. Creighton, The Will, p. 26 ; Pillsbury, 
Attention, p. 165 and Essentials of Psychology, pp. 301-4 ; Thorn- 
dike, Elements of Psychology, pp. 279-291. 

^Feeling and Attention, p. 297. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 193 

you should not, ''inhibiting ideas"; or, better, because 
easier, upon some other line of conduct. If I wish to 
stay at work this afternoon, I must not let my mind 
dwell on the ball game, but keep it steadily on the work 
and the joy of getting it done. 

We see this principle working out freely in the young child. He 
reaches for the moon because the impulse to reach for it is not yet 
associated with the uselessness of so doing. When the unwise 
mother says to her child of three, "Don't scratch the piano with 
that nail," Johnny, who had not thought of such a deed, now has his 
mind filled with the image of a fine scratch in the varnish, and toddles 
straight for the piano, — unless he has already had such experience 
with his mother's don'ts that an inhibiting image of pain comes to 
divide and dominate his attention. 

We may draw illustrations from certain abnormal states : A 
man may gradually become obsessed with the thought of committing 
a crime. More and more he finds it difficult to drive the idea from 
his mind ; less and less is he able to keep in mind the reasons why he 
should not do the deed. He becomes a monomaniac and, unless 
restrained, will commit the crime. In the hypnotic state whatever 
action is suggested holds exclusive attention ; no inhibiting idea of 
absurdity comes to mind, and a suggestion is at once followed. 

Action after deliberation. The principle set forth is 
not applicable merely to those actions performed '^just 
because they occurred to us ' ' ; but equally to action after 
deliberation. It is after a careful analysis of the '^five 
types of decision, ' ' that James arrives at the conclusions 
quoted. "Whether we weigh the pros and cons long and 
carefully, or give a ^^snap" judgment, we must come to a 
time when we push one set of ideas out of mind and give 
full attention to the other and opposing set; when the 
thought of one course of action, in Baldwin's words,^ 
'* swells and fills consciousness." The man of deter- 
mined action does not let his attention fix itself again 
upon the rejected possibility, lest he become a whiffler. 
Having put his hand to the plow, he goes forward and 

1 Handbook of Psychology, p. 355. 



194 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

looks not back. He must not hang vacillating, like 
Hamlet, between ^^to be or not to be,'' to do or not to do, 
until 

^' . , . the native hue of resolution 
Is sicklied o 'er with the pale cast of thought. ' ' 

We recall the sad fate of the classic donkey, that chancing to stop 
precisely halfway between two cocks of hay, was unable to choose 
between them and so starved to death. It seems to be the task of 
the persuader to turn such a poor beast about till he squarely faces 
one heap and say, "Go to it !" and if possible to put on blinders to 
cut off the backward look. 

The man of weak, unstable will seems to be one who cannot face 
unpleasant facts and rally to his support the ideas of remote conse- 
quences. "Let 's not think of that," he says.i 

As an aid to assimilating this thought, work out this problem : 
What might be said to a company of timid recruits about to go under 
fire? 

Theory of persuasion. To persuade a man, then, seems 
to be nothing more or less than to win his undivided 
attention to the desired conduct, to make him think of 
that and stop thinking of other courses, or of any inhibit- 
ing ideas.^ At this stage we may venture a new defini- 
tion of persuasion, one which would have been meaning- 
less before, and which may not be entirely clear till we 
are in the next chapter. Persuasion is the process of in- 
ducing others to give fair, favorable, or undivided atten- 
tion to propositions. We have now the satisfaction of 
knowing that all we have learned about interest and at- 
tention will serve us in solving this master problem of the 
art of public speech. 

1 Pillsbury, Attention, p. 163 ; James, Briefer Course, p. 451, 
Talks to Teachers, 187. 

2 ''To produce a given act in any person thus commonly implies 
the arousal of the mental state which has that act as its sequent, 
and also the suppression of conflicting or competing mental states." 
Thorndike, Elements of Psychology, p. 286. 

Persuasion "is simply the act of holding the favorable attention 
long enough for the stimulus to enter into effective combination with 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 195 

If some readers cannot accept this theory at once because of pre- 
conceptions, this fact need not trouble them in following the rest of 
this discussion ; for surely all must assent to the high importance in 
persuasion of winning favorable attention. The theory, however, 
rests upon the best of authorities, and I am not aware that any 
authority qualifies it in any way that affects its practical application 
to our work. 

There is a conventional theory of persuasion, so intenvoven with 
the literature of this subject that we should note it briefly before 
proceeding. This theory is based upon the conception, not now in 
favor, that our minds are divided into three parts, intellect, emotion, 
will. To persuade, we are told, one must satisfy, or overpower, the 
intellect ; then arouse the emotion, which in turn will move the will. 
*'We first know, then feel, then act," says a text on argumentation. 
*'Emotion is conditioned on apprehension, volition on emotion, action 
on volition." This theory is artificial and leads to certain errors in 
practice which we shall note further on ; but still it may be well 
enough harmonized with the theory we shall work with : To satisfy 
the intellect is to bring to attention reasons for the desired conduct, 
and to remove objections from attention ; and arousal of emotion in 
regard to an action is a sure way to win attention to it. 

Emotion and persuasion. It is quite correct to insist 
upon the importance of emotion in persuasion. As al- 
ready said, ideas which arouse emotion hold attention. 
And, as James says,^ ^^When any strong emotional state 
whatever is upon us, the tendency is for no images but 
such as are congruous with it to come up. If others by 
chance offer themselves, they are instantly smothered 
and crowded out. If we be joyous, we cannot keep 
thinking of those uncertainties and risks of failure which 
abound upon our path ; if lugubrious, we cannot think of 
new triumphs, travels, loves, and joys ; nor if vengeful, of 
our oppressor's community of nature with ourselves." 
In persuasion, then, we wish to allay emotions that will 
keep objections in mind, such as dislike for the means or 

other effective processes in consciousness." Hollingworth, Adver- 
tising and Selling, p. 133. 
^Briefer Course, p. 451. 



196 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

the end, or desire for other ends ; and we wish to awaken 
such emotions as will win for the proposed action favor- 
able attention. 

But it is a mistake to speak, as is often done, of per- 
suasion as altogether a matter of ^^ appealing to emo- 
tion." The phrase proves misleading. It is taken by 
some to refer to pathos only, or to an arousal of the more 
violent feelings; or at best as an appeal to some large 
emotion, such as patriotism. Again, the word appeal is 
misunderstood as meaning direct, fervid exhortation 
only. It is true that persuasion is much concerned with 
emotion. But it will be seen as we proceed that there 
are means of persuasion which are not suggested by the 
phrase, '^ appealing to emotion." It would not suggest, 
for example, winning an audience to a candid, sincere 
state of mind, or the presentation of sober facts. 

Motives. The most evident way in which we arouse 
emotion to fix attention is by awakening desire for the 
end sought; and an effective desire we call a motive.^ 
^^ Desire notoriously tends to maintain the idea of its 
object or end at the focus of consciousness; our thought 
keeps flying back to dwell on that which we strongly 
desire, in spite of our best efforts to banish the idea of it 
from our minds. ' ' ^ 

The relation of the word motive to both motion and emotion is 
apparent enough. An emotion which moves to action is a motive, 
though not all motives are emotions.^ There is no necessity for the 
term motive in our discussion, but we will use it since it is so well 
fixed in common speech. 

Incitement, inducement, impulse are among the proper synonyms 
of motive; but we also use reason, though one's motive may be 
highly unreasonable. The usage probably arises from the fact that 
motives, or emotions, stand as the major premises in persuasive argu- 
ments ; as, 

1 Dewey, Psychology, p. 366. 

2 McDougall, Social Psychology, p. 241. 

3 Thorndike, Elements of Psychology, p. 89. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 197 

You wish to gain money. 

This investment will bring you money ; 

Therefore, make the investment. 

To enter upon any elaborate analysis of human motives 
is unnecessary here. A very simple but suggestive clas- 
sification of motives is that of Newcomer,^ who treats of 
persuasion (1) by appeal to personal interest, (2) by 
appeal to social duty, and (3) by appeal to religious duty. 
Phillips's classification of impelling motives ^ has already 
been adapted to our treatment of interest : self-preserva- 
tion, property, power, reputation, affections, sentiments 
and tastes. Most of these terms are self-explanatory. 
Under sentiments are placed honor, patriotism, and in 
general the desire to do whatever is right, fair, and 
noble. Tastes include love of music, of drama, and of 
pleasures generally.^ 

Only very exceptional circumstances, if any, justify 
appealing to unworthy motives, but any proper motive 
which is operative with the audience, may be appealed to. 
Some hard questions arise. Would you play upon a 
man's avarice to save him from drunkenness? His 
hatred of a rival? May one ever properly appeal to a 
prejudice ? It is very difficult to decide what beliefs and 
feelings are prejudices. Certainly some of our best sen- 
timents are due to inheritance rather than to reason ; as 
our sense of honor. One may have a prejudice, an ''un- 
reasoning predilection," for the right course as well as 

1 English ComposHion, p. 171. 

2 Effective Speaking, p. 48. 

3 An elaborate discussion of the motives and feelings which Aris- 
totle considers of chief importance to the speaker, is found in his 
Rhetoric: in Book I, v, an analysis of happiness, — good birth, goodly 
and numerous offspring, wealth, good repute, honor, health, happy 
old age, friendship, good fortune, virtue. In I, vi, an analysis of 
the Good and the Expedient ; in I, vii, a comparison of goods ; in 
II, ii. the emotions, (1) anger and mildness, (2) love and hatred, 
(3) fear and boldness, (4) compassion, envy and emulation, (5) 
shame and shamelessness, (6) gratitude, (7) righteous indignation. 



198 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

for the wrong. You believe that a certain church or 
sect is based upon superstition; perhaps you believe it an 
evil institution. Would you hesitate to rally the adher- 
ents of that church to support a good cause by pointing 
out that the interests of their church are involved ? Sup- 
pose you were dealing with a mob bent on murder ; would 
you play on their desire for plunder in another direc- 
tion? This, like other questions of platform ethics, does 
not differ essentially from the problems of our everyday 
intercourse. Each case must be decided on its merits. 
I do not mean to suggest any moral looseness in dealing 
with these questions. They should be treated seriously ; 
but when we consider their complexity and how the 
noblest motives have moved men to the foulest deeds, we 
hesitate to be dogmatic. 

Professor Baker has spoken wisely upon motives : ^ 

*^ Choose the highest motive to which you think your 
audience will respond. If a speaker feels it necessary to 
appeal to motives not of the highest grades he should see 
to it that before he closes he makes them lead into 
higher motives.'' Professor Baker illustrates with 
Beecher's Speech at Liverpool, in which the orator dur- 
ing our Civil War was struggling with a very hostile 
audience of Englishmen. He argued that if slavery 
were abolished in the South, England would find a better 
market there for her goods, but ^^he connected this ap- 
peal with the far higher motives of mere justice and the 
good of humanity. . . . What gives its significance to 
[this] suggestion ... is that few men are willing to ad- 
mit that they have acted from motives considered low or 
mean. Even if they suspect this to be the case, they en- 
deavor to convince themselves that it is not true. In an 
audience each man knows those about him see what moves 
him in the speaker's words and therefore he yields most 
readily to a motive which he knows is generally com- 

1 Principles of Argumentation^ p. 321. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 199 

mended — religious feelings, charity, devotion to one's 
country, etc. . . . Since, then, men yield more willingly 
to motives generally commended, and since unanimity 
of action is more easily gained when the highest motives 
are addressed, this corollary to the suggestion last made 
may be formulated : The larger the audience, the higher 
the motives to which an appeal may be made. ' ' 

The last sentence of the quotation suggests a correla- 
tive truth, one that should make us chary of sweeping, 
dogmatic assertions, — that it is more difficult to appeal 
to the higher emotions of a small than of a large audi- 
ence. We all know the uneasy, half-shamed feeling 
which men feel if lofty motives are attributed to them 
when but few are together; and this feeling is espe- 
cially strong when the members of the group are well 
known to each other. It is a curious fact that we often 
refuse to admit our best motives. There would be few 
among those who have attended military training camps 
this summer who would confess to a higher motive than 
a desire for fun or physical fitness. And if brought to 
a confession of patriotism, they would not use the word, 
but say shamefacedly, ^^Well, every fellow ought to be 
ready to do his share. ' ' Tact is more needed in appeal- 
ing to the best motives of a small than of a large group. 
Often tact is a matter of phraseology. It may consist in 
avoiding words of sentiment. More acceptable at times 
than. To do this is noble and generous, is it to use the 
seemingly ruder form, Not to do this is mean and con- 
temptible. 

We are thinking now of audiences under ordinary cir- 
cumstances. We should note that in times of stress and 
excitement, an audience, large or small, will respond to 
a broad appeal which ordinarily they might receive with 
grins or blushes. 



200 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

While motives are frequently mixed, we need not 
cynically attribute right actions to selfishness, ambition 
or fear of public opinion. The average man really in- 
tends to do the right thing once his sense of responsibility 
is aroused. Most of us have certain principles of con- 
duct, duty, honesty, honor, courage and generosity, in 
accordance with which we must live if we are to retain 
our self-respect. Moreover, while we follow some lines 
of conduct because they are easy, popular and profit- 
able, we may, in more heroic mood, be attracted by the 
hard, the dangerous, and the self-sacrificing course. 

The New York Times i quotes "a shrewd public man in this city 
[who] was, on one occasion, discussing the probable future of David 
B. Hill, then seemingly in command of the politics of this state : 

** 'Mr. Hill's success may be called self -limiting, and I think the 
limit is approaching. His conception of politics has two serious 
defects. He appeals chiefly to the [self-] interest of his associates 
and subordinates, and sooner or later he cannot satisfy them, for 
there is not enough profit to go around. And he does not understand 
the tremendous influence of a moral issue on public sentiment.' " 

A story ex-President Taft tells of himself suggests the attitude of 
the average man toward duty when plainly seen. He says 2 that 
when Secretary of War Root asked him to go out as governor of the 
Philippines, the proposal ran counter to both his tastes and his am- 
bitions, and he refused. But when Mr. Root put it to him squarely 
that he had had a series of pleasant government positions and that 
now his country needed him for a more arduous duty, he yielded. 

To restate: Do not fear to appeal to the best senti- 
ments in your hearers. Assume they are better rather 
than worse than they are. They may respond to lower 
motives, but may also gladly rise to a higher plane. 

Fairness. One of the appeals to which men are 
ashamed not to respond, is that for fair play. Very few 
will rest easy under the imputation of unfairness. The 
average man who is really convinced that denial of the 

1 April 7, 1914. 

2 In a speech at the commencement dinner of the alumni of Ham- 
ilton College in 1913. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 201 

ballot results in injustice to women, will vote for women's 
suffrage. The appeal to the sense of fairness is of special 
importance in handling hostile audiences. Beecher at 
Liverpool, facing an audience partly composed of roughs 
present for the express purpose of breaking up the meet- 
ing, exclaimed early in his speech, ^^All I ask is simply 
fair plajM" Applause followed and for several minutes 
the interruptions ceased. 

A Scotch friend of mine went out to preach, some twenty years 
ago, on one of Chicago's worst corners, which had four saloons and 
was in the center of the district where lived the anarchists who threw 
the fatal bomb at the Haymarket riot. The crowd, which believed 
him sent by the hated capitalists, pushed him off the sidewalk, spit 
upon him and badgered him till preaching was impossible. "Is not 
this America?" he shouted. ''Shall I not have free speech?" "Yes," 
they replied, "and so shall we I" "But you give me no chance ; give 
me five minutes." The crowd voted that fair and listened. 

Desire for approval and admiration. While I have em- 
phasized self-respect, there is no doubt that men are 
strongl^^ drawn by the chance to impress their fellows 
with their prowess or importance ; and this shows itself 
in large and in petty ways. Men will undertake great 
enterprises, and undergo great hardships and sacrifices 
for the sake of reputation and power. Some men will 
be won to a cause for which in the beginning they care 
nothing, by being given a chance to display their powers 
in working for it. Others may be won from indifference 
to active support by some small concession which in- 
creases their sense of self-importance, such as a seat on a 
platform or appointment as usher. A badge will accom- 
plish wonders. Others whom we feel less petty, will risk 
their lives for little iron crosses. ' ' You call these toys, ' ' 
Napoleon is reported to have said to one who ridiculed 
the insignia of the Legion of Honor, ^4et me tell you that 
men are ruled by toys ! ' ' Pride in certain manifestations 



^02 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

we call vanity, and again we speak of a ^^ decent respect 
for the opinions of others"; but in any case we know 
that we are much influenced by the desire for the ap- 
proval and admiration of our fellows. 

What would you say to a group of boys to deter them from climb- 
ing in perilous places? Can you make a better sign than ''Danger — 
Keep off"? 

Kivalry. Very close to the preceding is the desire to 
emulate, to equal or to surpass others. We desire prop- 
erty, power and reputation less for themselves than for 
the relative position they give us. This desire to emu- 
late, also, takes the most petty and the most noble forms, 
from the desire to have a better front gate than one's 
neighbors to the desire to have one's town cleaner than 
a neighboring town, from competition in eating beef- 
steak to competition in acts of courage and sacrifice. 
This motive is much relied upon by those who wish to 
arouse either individuals or communities. Such and 
such a town has a paid fire department, twenty miles of 
paved streets, playgrounds : why cannot this town, with 
its higher grade of citizens, do as well or better ? So and 
so of your class has subscribed $1,000 to the alumni fund : 
cannot you do as well? From our earliest days we are 
seeking to do as some admired person does, or better than 
some one we dislike or envy. Contrast must be made, 
of course, with some person, institution or community 
one's hearers wish to emulate or surpass, else one may 
get an answer like that of a small boy to his mother when 
she points out a model of decorum, ^^ Who cares what that 
sissy does ? ' ' 

Fear. We have emphasized the things men desire, and 
this is ordinarily the better note to strike ; but we must 
not forget that men still live much under the dominion 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 20S 

of fear. They are held back from the step we urge, not 
alone by dislike for it, or opposing desires, or inertia; 
but also by dread of unpleasant consequences, perhaps of 
public disapproval of a departure from the accustomed 
path. Fears must be driven from mind by a confident 
presentation of the pleasure, profit, or honor of the course 
urged. But when positive methods prove inadequate, 
we may warn of the dangers of the wrong course, creat- 
ing a fear great enough to dominate attention and oust 
from mind the fear already existing. 

A white feather stuck in his coat lapel drove many an Englishman 
to enlist in 1914. The series of posters displayed by the British gov- 
ernment in the first year of the war would repay study from the 
standpoint of motives. Consider the motives touched by this one, 
said to have been effective : the picture of a boy looking up to his 
father and asking, "Father, what did you do in the Great War?'' 

Not always best to mention motives. It should not be 
assumed that we should always be baldly urging or ap- 
pealing to our audiences to do some act. Action may 
follow as a matter of course upon knowledge or convic- 
tion. Tell a boy he is wanted to pitch a game of base- 
ball, a charitable man that there is a suffering family in 
the next block, or convince a conscientious man that a 
certain course is right, and there is no need of dwelling 
on motives. The mind of the one addressed supplies all 
that is needed, and in many cases his response is with- 
out conscious emotion, being an habitual reaction.^ 
Often the speaker's task is only that of identification; he 
shows that the proposed course is profitable, noble, fash- 
ionable, will win votes, give pleasure, and that is all that 
is needed. If any argument at all is called for, it is in 
establishing the fact that the means will reach the end. 

To dwell upon motives may at times be offensive. 

1 Cf. James, Psychology, Vol. II, p. 536. 



204 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Men who take pride in their good citizenship may not 
relish being openly urged to do their duty to their city. 
Few of us like to be preached at; many of the most 
effectual sermons omit the exhortation. The preacher 
simply makes vice ugly and virtue desirable ; or he makes 
plain the course which an honest, clean, generous man 
would wish to follow ; and when he has brought the truth 
vividly into his hearer's consciousness, he leaves it to do 
its work. And because most men wish to be honest, clean 
and generous, they are likely to respond to the challenge. 

At other times the most positive methods and baldest 
appeals to emotion are in order, to turn men from strong 
habits or fascinating leadership, or to overcome strong 
hostile emotions. There are times, too, when the appeal 
must be made, but less openly. Much depends upon the 
character of the audience and the spirit of the occasion. 
Much depends, also, upon the relation of the speaker to 
his audience. A young man would hardly venture to 
exhort an audience of Civil War veterans to patriotism. 
If he exhorted at all, he would exhort the young men 
present to emulate their elders, and in so doing he might 
stimulate the veterans to live up to the reputation given 
them. 

When familiar motives must be emphasized, care 
should be taken to avoid implying moral delinquency on 
the part of the audience, unless it be deliberately deter- 
mined that severity is in order. Care should be taken 
also to avoid boring by trite presentation of familiar 
motives; especially if the motive dwelt upon be duty. 
Often one's hearers have heard certain standard argu- 
ments and pleas till they slip off attention ^'like water 
from a duck's back." Take, for example, the exhorta- 
tion to political duty. A new setting is needed; new 
facts and new illustrations. Pleas are often reinforced 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 205 

by stories of heroism from the past, and some of these 
are badly overworked; yet some which gather about 
themselves strong emotions can be told with great per- 
suasive effect. Religious pleas are often founded upon 
vivid recitals of the Exodus or of the Crucifixion. 

Appealing for sympathy. We read that the ancients 
would endure the most direct assaults upon their feelings. 
Pleaders in court might dramatically bare their scars; 
and the young children of a defendant might be exhibited 
with the open intent of winning sympathy. These 
methods have not entirely lost vogue, but they can rarely 
be used so openly with good effect. The modern man, 
and especially the American and the Englishman, though 
emotional enough, dislikes direct appeals to his feelings. 
He may hang his head or he may jeer; but he is in all 
cases likely to resist when he is conscious that an assault 
upon his feelings is being made. Much depends, natu- 
rally, upon the situation, and much may be forgiven to a 
speaker evidently sincere; but in most cases when one 
feels the need of awakening sympathy he had best take 
the less direct method ; that is, depend upon the presenta- 
tion of the case rather than upon pleas, either in words 
or tones. 

Sense of responsibility. It is often very difficult to 
bring home to an audience the feeling that they are 
personally responsible for the matter in hand. The 
preacher who levels a sermon at the head of an erring 
deacon is congratulated by that very deacon, who 
chuckles ^^to think how Brother Smith got scored this 
morning. ' ' The preacher is continually finding it neces- 
sary to say, ''If the coat fits you, put it on." The citi- 
zen who attacks a municipal abuse finds dozens to '^sym- 
pathize ' ' and say, ' ' Yes, yes, why does n 't somebody at- 
tend to that ? ' ' for one to step forward and say, ' ' I have 



206 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

come to help." Very likely the priest and the Levite 
who passed the injured man by, said, ' ' Too bad ! Some- 
body should care for him, and clean out those bandits 
too; but my business in Jericho won't wait." We can 
readily see that the speaker's task is to get people to face 
their obligation squarely, to give it attention when other 
matters of business and pleasure are taking their minds. 
He must make them see that the public nuisance, the 
grafting city administration, the violation of tenement- 
house laws, the endangered honor of the university, are 
the personal responsibility, not only of all of his hearers, 
but of each of them; not something that ^Hhey" should 
attend to, but something that unofficial John Smith 
should attend to. 

The most obvious thing to do is to declare bluntly the 
individual responsibility of each one present. But audi- 
ences are rather hardened to this ; we are all told of in- 
numerable imperative duties as men and citizens, as 
members of this body and that. At least a new and in- 
teresting way of bringing home the responsibility is 
needed, especially when one's hearers are not yet 
aroused over the situation. 

Preachers, who have to make the same appeals year after year, 
are driven to invent expedients. The follov^ing, clipped from a 
church announcement sheet, is interesting : 

"How much shall I give to benevolences? — being a little argu- 
ment with myself. 

"I can refuse to give anything, thus saying 'Stop all Missionary 
Effort ; Stop all building of frontier Churches and Bible Schools ; 
Stop all Ministerial Education ; Stop all aid given to aged minis- 
ters.' Or 

"I can give less than heretofore, saying 'Reduce the activities of 
the Church as I have reduced my gifts.' Or "I can give the same 
amount as formerly, saying 'Stand still. Stay where you are. 
Make no advance. Undertake no new work.' Or 

"I can increase my gifts 10, 20, 30, 50% and thus say to the 
Church, 'Increase your activities by this much. Let us go up and 
possess the land which God has given us.' What shall be my 
answer?" 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 207 

The following, taken from the press reports of an offhand ad- 
dress by President Wilson to the graduating class of the Naval Acad- 
emy in 1916, is an attempt to impress once more a thought that was 
no doubt very familiar to his hearers : i 

"Once in a while when youngsters here or at West Point have for- 
gotten themselves and have done something that they ought not to 
do and were about to be disciplined, perhaps severely, for it, I have 
been appealed to by their friends to excuse them from the pen- 
alty : . . . 'You know college boys. You know what they are. 
They are heedless youngsters, very often, and they ought not to be 
held up to the same standards of responsibility that older men must 
submit to.' 

"And I have always replied, 'Yes, I know college boys; but while 
these youngsters are college boys, they are something more. They 
are officers of the United States. They are not merely college boys. 
If they were, I would look at derelictions of duty on their part in 
another spirit ; but any dereliction of duty on the part of a naval 
officer of the United States may involve the fortunes of a nation 
and cannot be overlooked.' 

"Do you not see the difference? You cannot indulge yourselves 
in weakness, gentlemen. You cannot forget your duty for a mo- 
ment ; because there might come a time when that weak spot in you 
would affect you in the midst of a great engagement, and then the 
whole history of the world might be changed by what you did not 
do, or did w^rong. ... I congratulate you that you are going to 
live your lives under the most stimulating compulsion that any man 
can feel, the sense, not of private duty merely, but of public duty 
also. ... I wish you godspeed, and remind you that yours is the 
honor of the United States." 

An important way of awakening the sense of responsi- 
bility, which also enlists pride, is to give one's hearers 
something definite to do, whether that something be 
really important work in a position of trust, or merely 
signing a petition, or standing up to be counted. Get 
them at least to commit themselves publicly to your 
cause so that the public will expect action from them. 
Get as many as feasible serving on committees to do spe- 
cific tasks and report upon them. Men of real efficiency 
may be interested in a cause just by the chance to do 
work well ; they like to make things go. Other men may 
be enlisted by being made to feel that they are needed, 
that ^^ doing their bit," as the English say, is of real 
importance. 

1 For entire speech see daily papers for June 2, 1916. 



208 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

In taking a broad view of persuasion, we may note that an 
aroused sense of responsibility may change a reckless radical into a 
conservative, or may change a conservative into a progressive. 
Macaulay declares that Whigs in office become Tories. Make your 
hearers realize that they are personally responsible for the conduct 
of the business in hand, and they may cease to shout for violent 
action. Mr. George hit upon his famous plan for the ^'Junior Re- 
public" by discovering that he could secure the order he had failed to 
command among his *'fresh air" boys, by making the ring-leader in 
disorder chief of police. On the other hand, the responsibility of 
dealing with a situation may break down a man's conservatism, be- 
cause it compels him to face conditions he has refused to ac- 
knowledge. 

Compelling people to face the truth. It is important 
to prevent people from deceiving themselves with ex- 
cuses. Professor James, in discussing attention and 
will,^ puts stress upon the difficulty we often have in 
keeping attention upon the right action, seeing clearly 
that a duty is a duty and that an evil action is an evil 
action. ''What is hard," he says, ''is facing an idea as 
real. ' ' The drift of attention is all away from the right 
idea, and we must strain attention to it "until at last it 
growSy so as to maintain itself before the mind with ease. 
This strain of the attention is the fundamental act of 
will. " ^ It is sometimes the speaker 's business to com- 
pel his audience to face unpleasant facts as real, and in 
particular to prevent their putting them away by calling 
them by other names. 

^ ' ' How many excuses does the drunkard find when 
each new temptation comes ! It is a new brand of liquor 
which the interests of intellectual culture in such mat- 
ters obliges him to test ; moreover it is poured out and it 
is a sin to waste it ; also others are drinking and it would 
be churlishness to refuse. Or it is but to enable him to 
sleep, or just to get through this job of work; or it is n't 

1 Briefer Courses, p. 451. 

2 Idem, p. 452. 

3 Idem, p. 453. Cf. Talks to Teachers, p. 188. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 209 

drinking, it is because he feels so cold ; or it is Christmas 
day ; or it is a means of stimulating him to make a more 
powerful resolution in favor of abstinence than any he 
has hitherto made, or it is just this once, and once does n't 
count, etc., etc., ad libitum — it is, in fact, anything you 
like except heing a drunkard. That is the conception 
that will not stay before the poor soul's attention. But 
if he once gets able to pick out that way of conceiving, 
... if through thick and thin he holds to it that this is 
being a drunkard and is nothing else, he is not likely to 
remain one long. . . . Everywhere, then^ the function 
of the effort is the same : to keep affirming and adopting 
a thought which if left to itself would slip away." 

The part of the persuader in helping or compelling 
others to accept and stick to the right conception, la- 
beled with the right name, is plain enough. He should 
not permit his hearers to call rudeness or destructiveness 
furiy penuriousness caring for one^s own household, 
prodigality generosity, dissipation heing a good fellow, 
indolence weariness or illness, snobbishness refinement, 
lies excuses, bigotry religion, or to suffer from the two 
delusions from which an Oxford don says his little world 
suffers, — having no opinions and calling it balanced 
mind, and expressing no opinions and calling it modera- 
tion. 

Dr. Wiley tells a story of a member of a certain Middle West 
legislature who sought an appropriation of $100,000 for the protec- 
tion of public health ; but could secure only $5,000. One morning 
he put upon the desk of each legislator before the opening of the ses- 
sion, a fable which ran something like this : A sick mother with a 
baby is told by a physician that she has tuberculosis and that she 
should seek a higher altitude. Lack of means prevents her going. 
She applies to the government and is told that not a dollar is avail- 
able to save the mother and her child from death. At the same time 
a farmer observes that one of his hogs has cholera symptoms. He 
sends a telegram, collect, to the government. An inspector comes 
next day, treats the hog with serum and cures it. Moral : Be a hog ! 
The $100,000 appropriation was promptly granted. The legislators 



210 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

saw from this vivid presentation of the case that what they had vari- 
ously called economy, common-sense, business is business, etc., was 
really putting the hog above the child. 

Faith. At times the most difficult part of persuading 
those already convinced of the desirability of a course of 
conduct, is to make them believe and feel that it is worth 
while to try, and that success is possible. Other voices 
may be saying, ^^What 's the use? You can't do it." 
Faith exhibited by the speaker himself is an important 
element in overcoming hopelessness; but there is room 
for argument for the probability of success, for citing 
examples of how others have succeeded, and for painting 
the end as so desirable that it mil seem worth a supreme 
effort. Faith is also greatly increased by the realiza- 
tion that many are supporting the same cause. This 
sense of strong support may be given by securing large 
attendance at meetings, by many signers to petitions, by 
the citation of authorities, and by organization. 

Value of organizations. This suggests the fact that it 
is sometimes worth while to win the support of existing 
organizations, or even to form a new society to promote 
your cause. An organization not only increases faith ; it 
provides the strength of united action. It may also give 
greater prestige ; and this prestige may win more adher- 
ents than the simple merit of the cause can command. 
People like to join organizations, just to ^^ belong"; and 
especially they like to join organizations that promise to 
become popular. Newspapers are more likely to report 
the doings of organizations than of individuals ; and pub- 
licity is necessary to most causes. The prestige of an 
organization also affects opponents of your cause, and 
makes them hesitate to resist. Men who are maintain- 
ing nuisances, or otherwise acting in defiance of the pub- 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 211 

lie good, may laugh at the attacks of individuals, but re- 
spect the power of an organized body. 

But quite apart from the power and prestige of or- 
ganizations, they do something to reduce the reluctance, 
strong with most Americans, to make a fuss over evils 
and inconveniences. It is true we have a deal of muck- 
raking and agitating ; but it is also true that the average 
American will endure discourtesies, bad service, and 
positive fraud and injustice, and tolerate evils of many 
sorts, rather than take action. It is not merely that he 
is absorbed in his own affairs: he has a fear of being 
thought a busybody, of having it said that he is always 
getting excited about something. Now, this reluctance 
to take action against evils is much lessened when one can 
act in an organization; as member, for example, of a 
*^ Committee for the Suppression of Vice." Then there 
are scores of those who will pay annual dues, or report a 
case of cruelty to animals, who would not take independ- 
ent action; and so through an organization they make 
it possible. for others more interested or more courageous 
to act. 

These are facts proper for a speaker to take into ac- 
count when he considers how to make his plea effective. 
But it would, of course, be absurd to form organizations 
in many instances; and it is always well to consider if 
the case is one in which the benefit to be derived will 
justify the attempt to add to the organizations of a com- 
munity, usually altogether too* numerous for the busy 
people who are expected to support them. 

Manner of presenting the proposal. It is plain enough 
that in our effort to secure the most direct and exclusive 
attention to a proposition, the method of presentation 
is of high importance. We can make use, therefore, of 



212 PUBLIC SPEAKINa 

all that we have learned or can learn of clearness and 
force, of all that makes for sustained attention. Variety, 
unity, coherence and emphasis are never more important 
than in persuasion. A few special applications of what 
was said in Chapter VI are needed here. 

Review of accepted arguments. We are considering 
persuasion in those cases in which our conclusions are 
already assented to by our hearers. Even in such cases 
it is often worth while to review the arguments for the 
proposed action, and thus change a lightly held belief, 
liable at any time to be routed, into a firm convic- 
tion. At another time we may find argument unwise; 
for beliefs accepted from fathers and teachers, though 
unreasoned, may be held with great tenacity, and the only 
effect of argument may be to create a questioning state 
of mind. If quick action is desired, the argumenta- 
tive state of mind is undesirable. Some successful lead- 
ers never argue; only summon and command. Other 
great leaders, like Lincoln, wish their followers to under- 
stand why they follow, and so to follow more intelligently. 

If argument is used, it should be followed by discourse 
of a more impulsive character. Also, care should be 
taken not to bore your hearers by arguments in stale form 
or to provoke resentment by arguing as if they were 
unbelievers. The air of recalling and reviewing is better 
than that of presenting something new. 

Repetition. We are likely to do almost anything if we 
are urged often enough, provided we are not driven into 
hostility by tactless urging. Napoleon is said to have 
declared, ^Hhat there is only one figure of rhetoric of 
serious importance, namely, repetition. ' ' Reiteration 
keeps the idea of an action before the mind and makes it 
stick fhere. The repetition may occur in the same speech, 
or in successive speeches. Delenda est Carthago (Car- 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 213 

thage must be destroyed) thundered the old Roman Cato 
in every speech he made for years, until the Roman 
people took up the task. In these days he would have 
supplemented his speeches with articles in the press, and 
perhaps with electric signs. In political campaigns can- 
didates go about repeating in every speech their keynotes ; 
such as, ^ ^ Turn the rascals out ! ' ' or, ^ ^ The tariff is a tax. ' ' 
''He kept us out of the war," had not a little to do 
with the reelection of President Wilson in 1916. The 
whole corps of party speakers may repeat the phrase; 
and though opponents may ridicule it as a parrot cry, the 
repetition counts. The candidate who is clever enough to 
hit upon phrases which the papers will take up gains 
greatly by their repetition. Advertisers also know the 
value of multiplied repetition of standard phrases. 

But repetition is not limited to the reiteration of set 
phrases. The set phrase has the advantage that there is 
no failure to identify the idea, as there may be with 
varied phraseology; but varied statement relieves the 
monotony. Monotony may also be relieved by giving the 
stock phrases new settings. Examples from advertise- 
ments will readily occur to all. Not only does the varied 
setting relieve monotony, but also increases the prob- 
ability that the idea will cling to mind, for the more 
associations it is given the more likely they are to return 
it to attention. 

Amplification. The idea of an action should not be 
repeated merely, but also developed. Says Genung : ^ 

**For purposes of persuasion thoughts should be pre- 
sented copiously. It is a case where repetition of 
thoughts in many aspects and phases, and body of am- 
plification secured by detail and illustration, are of spe- 
cial service. For the hearer's mind has not merely to 

1 Working Principles of Rhetoric^ p. 653. 



2U PUBLIC SPEAKING 

catch the thought; he needs to be saturated with it, so 
that he may carry it with him as an impulse and work- 
ing consciousness/^ 

Under Sustaining Attention in Chapter VI are given 
detailed suggestions in regard to amplification. We may 
note here the fact that the more frequently the idea of an 
action and the reasons for it are brought to attention, 
and the longer they are held before attention, the more 
likely they are to stick in memory and accomplish their 
purpose. But there must be vividness as well as fre- 
quency of presentation. We should not get the notion 
that merely harping upon an idea is effective. Moreover, 
elaboration should be given only to matters which deserve 
it, and a speaker should be keen to detect when his audi- 
ence has had enough. As an example of copious treat- 
ment by repetition and amplification, of an idea that 
needed enforcement, we may take the following from 
Burke's Conciliation with the Colonies: 

''The point with me is, not whether you have a right 
to render your people miserable, but whether it is not 
your interest to make them happy. It is not what a law- 
yer tells me I may do, but what humanity, reason and 
justice tell me I ought to do. Is a politic act the worse 
for being a generous one? Is no concession proper but 
that which is made from your want of right to keep 
what you grant ? Or does it lessen the grace or dignity 
of relaxing in the exercise of an odious claim because you 
have your evidence room full of titles, and your maga- 
zines stuffed with arms to enforce them? What signify 
all those titles, and all those arms? Of what avail are 
they, when the reason of the thing tells me that the asser- 
tion of my title is the loss of my suit, and that I could 
do nothing but wound myself by the use of my own 
weapons ? 

''Such is steadfastly my opinion of the absolute neces- 
sity of keeping up the concord of this empire by a unity 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 215 

of spirit, tliougli in a diversity of operations, that if I 
were sure the colonists had at their leaving this country, 
sealed a regular compact of servitude, that they had 
solemnly abjured all the rights of citizens, that they had 
made a vow to renounce all ideas of liberty for them and 
their posterity to all generations ; yet I should hold my- 
self obliged to conform to the temper I found universally 
prevalent in my own day, and to govern two millions of 
men, impatient of servitude, on the principles of free- 
dom, I am not determining a point of law ; I am restor- 
ing tranquillity ; and the general character and situation 
of a people must determine what sort of government is 
fitted for them. That point nothing else can or ought to 
determine. ' ' 

Compare the speeches of Brutus and Antony, in Julius Ccesar, in 
regard to repetition and amplification, and also conereteness. 

Concrete and specific expression. It is of high im- 
portance to persuasion that abstractions should become 
to the audience realities. Abstractions are cold, removed 
from emotion, which belongs to things, experiences and 
persons. Our presentation must come into the experi- 
ence of our hearers and make our cause real, tangible and 
personal to them. Says President Lowell : ^ " The mass 
of mankind has more sympathy with the fortunes of an 
individual than with the fate of principles. ' ' Our cause 
must, also, to revert to Dewey's definitions of concrete, 
be made familiar to our audience and be made to appear 
practical. 

Our presentation should be not only concrete, but also 
specific. ''Emotion," says Foster,^ ''is concerned with 
particulars rather than with generals. ' ' We talk of love 
for mankind, but our genuine feeling is for individuals. 
You may draw money from the habitually charitable 
for the suffering children of a city; but you can draw 

1 Public Opinion and Popular Government, p. 53. 
^Exposition and Argument, p. 146. 



216 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

much more if you will describe one little tot suffering 
in a tenement and show us the farm you wish to take 
him to. The one case is more tangible, easier to focus 
upon ; it seems more possible for one unimportant person 
to deal with it. To urge me to do my political duties 
is not nearly so effective as to urge me to go to the pri- 
maries next Tuesday night and work for Thomas Jones 
for mayor. To ask a friend to visit you is less effective 
than to ask him to come next Wednesday. Men do not 
fight for rights, but for a right. An effective battle cry 
names a specific goal: *^0n to Richmond!'' '^On to 
Paris!" 

I cannot agree with Shurter, however, that "generalizations have 
no persuasive value." i We must often regret that the * 'glittering 
generality" has quite too much influence over shallow minds, over 
those of the "little education" which has been called "a dangerous 
thing," those who "think they think." Innumerable fads, "new" 
movements, pseudo-religions and philosophies, have their vogue 
through the too ready acceptance of generalities, which have little 
effect upon the clear thinking or upon the slow-moving uneducated 
mind, which is slow to grasp generalizations. The best way to meet 
these thin preachments is to demand a reduction of the generalities 
to concrete, specific terms. It should be noted that the generalities 
belong rather to the supposed philosophical bases of these movements 
than to their practical teachings. These usually include tangible 
lines of conduct, such as relaxation and deep breathing, or walking 
barefoot in the dew. 

As a rule, the specific statement is more persuasive 
than the general, and this is especially true with those 
people best worth winning. A generalization is most 
effective when it is a striking summary of thought already 
in mind. A short crystallizing statement may put the 
thought in a form easy to fasten attention upon. ' ' The 
rich are growing richer and the poor poorer/' owes its 
force to its being a positive statement of a common belief. 

1 Rhetoric of Oratory, p. 118. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 217 

A sweeping political claim, such as Mr. Roosevelt made 
before the National Progressive Convention in 1912, 
*^The Democratic and Republican organizations repre- 
sent government of the needy many by professional 
politicians in the interest of the rich few," will draw 
great applause from an audience in thorough accord. 
There is a boldness, a positiveness and an authoritative- 
ness about such statements, which, given right conditions, 
is effective; but their effectiveness is limited largely to 
the uncritical, either the naturally uncritical or those un- 
critical because already won. 

Whether one should come at once in a speech to the 
specific aspects of his proposition, has to be decided in 
the light of conditions. The more natural order seems to 
be to state first the general ideas and purposes ; but there 
are times when the particular suggestion will be more 
welcome than the general. People will listen more 
readily to a particular scheme of social amelioration, such 
as old age pensions, than to a general discussion of social 
wrongs, which may sound socialistic. But if one were 
basing his plea upon such familiar conceptions as justice 
and humanity, some emphasis upon these might pave the 
way for a somewhat radical proposal. 

A speech by a young woman upon Feminism illustrated an aa- 
vantage and a disadvantage of a purely general treatment. By de- 
fending feminism in general terms only, she avoided raising the 
objections sure to be awakened by specific statements of ways in 
which some women wish "to live their own lives" ; but since her 
audience had but vague ideas of feminism, she won assent to a 
vague proposition only and really gained no ground. She had made 
only a good beginning. 

Imagination and persuasion. Among the sayings at- 
tributed to Napoleon is this: ^^Imagination rules the 
world. " ^' The orator, ' ' says an Eastern proverb, ' ' is one 
who can change ears into eyes. ' ' We are already familiar 



218 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

with the hold of imagery upon attention and its power 
to stir emotions. If yon wish to induce a muscular 
student, who knows nothing of the sport, to join the foot- 
ball squad, take him to see a game. If you would check 
a friend from dissipation, show him the results in human 
form. But if you cannot bring them face to face with 
the objective realities, then with word pictures you must 
make these mental realities. The speaker who has power 
to make his hearers live in the scenes he portrays can 
move them almost at will. 

Imagination can be appealed to in the use of illustra- 
tive matter. The great preacher Whitefield, whose 
persuasive power was so great that he made Benjamin 
Franklin throw all his money into a collection for a cause 
he did not approve, once described a vessel in peril of a 
storm so vividly, that when he cried out, ^ ' What shall we 
do r ' a sailor in the congregation leaped to his feet shout- 
ing, ' ' For God 's sake, cut the ropes ! " 

Emerson has emphasized the force of a tersely put 
image : ^ 

^^The orator must be, to a certain extent, a poet. We 
are such imaginative creatures, that nothing so works on 
the human mind, barbarous or civilized as a trope [fig- 
ure of speech]. Condense some daily experience into a 
glowing symbol, and an audience is electrified. ... It is 
a wonderful aid to memory, which carries away the 
image, and never loses it. A popular assembly, like the 
House of Commons, or the French Chamber, or the 
American Congress, is commanded by these two powers, 
— first by a fact, then by skill of statement. Put the 
argument into a concrete shape, into an image, — some 
hard phrase, round and solid as a ball, which they can 
see and handle and carry home with them, — and the 
cause is half won. ' ' 

1 Essay on Eloquence. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 219 

As illustrations we may take, ^'Remember the Alamo !" and Pres- 
ident McKinley's question in regard to keeping the Philippines, 
"Who shall haul down the flag?" Mr. Roosevelt has been particu- 
larly happy in making phrases which stick to memory and exert an 
influence ; such as "muckraker" and "nature-fakir." Would not the 
excellent cause called "conservation of natural resources," have won 
stronger popular support had it been baptized with a less abstract 
name? To what would you attribute the force of the phrases 
"Safety flrst" and "the invisible government"? Is "preparedness" 
a good term? 

The Welsh statesman Lloyd-George has rare power with popular 
audiences. In the following extract he gives a fine image to carry 
home, by telling this story of an old W^elsh preacher : 

"He was conducting a funeral service over a poor fellow who 
had had a very bad time through life w^ithout any fault of his own. 
They could hardly find a space in the churchyard for his tomb. At 
last they got enough to make a brickless grave amid towering monu- 
ments that pressed upon it, and the minister, standing above it, 
said : 'Well, Davie, you have had a narrow time right through life 
and you have a very narrow place in death ; but never you mind, old 
friend, I can see a day dawning for you when you will rise out of 
your narrow bed and call out to all these big people, "Elbow room 
for the poor." ' " 

Do not suppose that the power of imagery lies only in 
magnificent figures and elaborate word-painting, such as 
are found in the peroration of Webster 's Reply to Hayne, 
or in his reconstruction of the tragedy in his argument 
in the Captain Joseph White murder case. Vivid 
imagery may be found in the simplest speeches. The stu- 
dent in my class who urged the adoption of a new method 
of handling traffic at city crossings had to make vivid to 
us conditions as they are and as they would be under 
the proposed system, and his success was in proportion 
to the vividness of our imagery. 

Exposition and persuasion. To no means of persuasion 
do I find myself referring oftener in practical teaching 
than that of exposition ; that is, bringing into the hearer's 
imagination how the plan will work out. The proposed 
action, or method, is in many instances, vague in the 
hearer 's mind. It is unfamiliar, remote, unreal ; perhaps 



220 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

unpleasant, unprofitable, or dishonorable, because un- 
usual. Perhaps he cannot conceive it at all; or he con- 
ceives it imperfectly and imagines all sorts of obstacles. 
The best answer to such objections is, Come and see. 
Come and see the new and efficient method of handling 
goods, of cleaning up a community, or of governing a city. 
But usually the seeing must be through clear exposition 
and word pictures. Vivid exposition is persuasive be- 
cause it fixes attention, and because it makes the course 
proposed seem real and feasible; perhaps familiar and 
well established, rather than strange and extraordinary. 
Images of motion. Many authorities agree that ''an 
idea always has a motor consequence, however obscure. 
Whenever a definite idea is formed, there is a tendency 
toward action. ' ' No one will question the further state- 
ment that this tendency is ''most plainly seen in those 
ideas which suggest some particular movement. ... A 
motor idea, unless restrained, tends to go out immedi- 
ately in definite action. ' ' ^ 

By the term images of motion I wish to indicate more than is 
usually understood by motor images, which refers to images corre- 
sponding to muscular effort. I am stirred by visual images of a foot- 
ball game, mental pictures of the players dashing about the field, and 
by sound images of the sharp signals and the shouts of the crowd, 
and by tactual images of the impact of bodies, as well as by the 
''twisting, straining and writhing of every muscle, tendon and 
joint." 

Beyond a doubt, vivid images of men in action, of 
busy teeming life, have persuasive force. The dramatic 
recital of, How we won the race at Poughkeepsie, brings 
the recruits thronging to the crew room. The impulse 
to emulate and to imitate are working here, but these are 
not awakened to the same degree by less vivid speech. 
Making the hearer see himself. The most potent appeal 
1 Halleck, Psychology and Psychic Culture, p. 317. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 221 

to imagination is that which makes your hearer see him- 
self in certain situations or doing certain actions. This 
touches the mainspring of enthusiasm and ambition. It 
is also a means of restraint, enabling one to value a future 
good above an immediate pleasure, or to realize a future 
evil; or, again, it may make one realize an anticipated 
pleasure so intensely that the future evil fades from view. 
''Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint." ^ 

"No, I cannot go fishing with you," says your friend ; "I have 
this work to finish." "But," you persist, "just think of the woods ! 
Just think of pulling out those speckled beauties ! Remember that 
time, etc." A faraway look comes into the enthusiast's eyes, and he 
leaps to his feet with a "Work be hanged !" In other words, "I will 
not give work attention." A boy persuading his friend to quit the 
woodpile and come play ball, makes the friend see himself pitching to 
the glorious discomfiture of the rival gang. Fear of a father's wrath 
must take the form of a vivid woodshed experience to oust that pic- 
ture. The same boys, visioning their futures in day dreams, build- 
ing castles in Spain, are roused to enthusiasm and ambition as they 
see themselves building bridges over chasms, piling up fortunes in 
business, riding at the head of their troops, pleading irresistibly in 
the courts, or it may be, helping the unfortunate. 

A city or a nation may have its visions too. The engineer who can 
put into the minds of the city fathers a vision of life in an im- 
proved town, may win a contract for the improvements ; the leader 
who can make a people see itself dominant in the world, may inspire 
them to incredible sacrifices. 

So the short and simple prescription is: i\Iake your 
hearers see themselves in the situation or doing the act 
you desire. Translate duties into visions. Make that 
athletic team see itself carried off the field, or bringing 
home the laurels of victory to lay at Alma Mater's feet. 
Make that prison audience see themselves living normal, 
honest, respected lives. Or, if you wish to check an 
action or tendency, make the student who would cheat 
under the honor system see himself ostracized. 

1 Proverls, 29 :18, revised version. 



222 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Such appeals to the imagination sometimes succeed because the 
speaker omits either the pleasing or the displeasing features of a 
situation. One pleading for declaration of war might win his cause 
by making his hearers glimpse the glory of an heroic struggle ; but 
his opponent might chill their ardor by painting a picture of the 
horrors of war. Such practices may raise an evident moral question. 
We certainly feel it justifiable to fix the attention of men upon the 
rewards rather than upon the hardships of a worthy enterprise, in 
order that they may draw courage to endure ; but this sort of exag- 
geration has its moral limits. 

The superiority of expression which is specific, concrete 
and imaginative, over abstract and general presentation 
lies in its power to fix attention and cling to memory. 
But we should not over-emphasize any one method of 
presentation; any form of expression which does fix 
attention and impress memory may be persuasive. 

Suggestion. A new meaning for an old word has crept 
into common speech. The new and technical meaning 
of the word suggestion is plainly enough derived from its 
older sense, as seen in the phrase, ^^ Don't suggest it to 
him, ' ' which carries the implication that if you do, he will 
act upon the suggestion. We have heard much of the 
evil of the exploitation of crime in the papers and in mov- 
ing pictures because of their suggestion to the young. No 
definition of suggestion satisfactory for our purpose has 
been found, and authorities do not agree ; ^ but it will 
sufiice to say that when we act upon a prompting external 
to ourselves, and without deliberation, we act upon sug- 
gestion. The response is automatic. 

A popular discussion of suggestion will be found in Scott's Influ- 
encing Men in Business, This book has the advantages of being 
written for those untrained in psychology by one well versed in the 
science, and also of being written from the standpoint of persuasion. 
In this work 2 Professor Scott says that while the subject of sugges- 

1 See Titchener's Tecothook, p. 449, Scott's Psychology of Adver- 
tising, p. 80 and McDougall, Social Psychology, p. 97. 

2 P. 36, 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 223 

tion has been made ridiculous by writers who have presented it as 
the open sesame to success, still "in moving and inspiring men, sug- 
gestion is to be considered in every way the equal of logical reason- 
ing, and as such is to be made the subject of consideration foi 
every man who is interested in influencing his fellow men." 

' ' The working of suggestion, ' ' says Scott,^ ' ^ is depend- 
ent upon the impulsive, dynamic nature of ideas. . . . 
We conceive of ideas as being nothing more than formal, 
inert reasons and assume that to secure action we must 
add to our ideas the activity of the will. As a matter of 
fact, . . . ideas are the most live things in the universe. 
They are dynamic and lead to action. This dynamic, 
impulsive nature of ideas is expressed in the following 
law : 

^^ Every idea of an action will result in that action 
unless hindered by an impeding idea or physical impedi- 
ment. 

' ' The dynamic nature of ideas is further shown by the 
fact which is expressed in the following general law : 

^^Every idea, concept or conclusion which enters the 
mind is held as true unless hindered dy some contradic- 
tory idea." 

The most significant feature of suggestion is that it 
secures assent directly, without reasons for beliefs or 
motives for action. These may exist, but they are not 
in mind. There is no deliberation and criticism, for no 
opposing or inhibiting ideas are thought of. Full atten- 
tion is given at once to the suggested idea. When I 
accept an idea from command, fashion, tradition, instruc- 
tion, convention, example, or personal influence, or what 
Eoss sums up ^ as ^'social pressure," without deliberation, 
I am governed by suggestion. If I consider thus: It 
is a tradition in my family to belong to the Republican 

1 Influencing Men in Business, p. 37. 

2 Social Control, p. 148. 



224 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

party ; I will therefore become a Republican ; or, It is the 
proper thing to wear a white tie with a dress coat ; I will 
obey the convention, — I am not acting under suggestion. 
But if I do these things without considering the possibil- 
ity of doing otherwise, then I act on suggestion. 

You have noticed that all this is quite in line with our theory of 
persuasion ; and, indeed, the quotations from Scott seem but a re- 
statement of that theory. But suggestion is only one phase of per- 
suasion. Some of the means of persuasion we have already dis- 
cussed might be placed under suggestion, but not the presentation of 
motives, or any means that involves argument and deliberation. 
The term suggestion is not necessary to our treatment ; but it al- 
ready has a place in popular discussions and it furnishes a convenient 
terminology for discussing certain phenomena, especially the con- 
duct of crowds. 

Methods of suggestion. Eepetition and amplification 
are important means of suggestion, when they do not 
provoke critical consideration. Such repetition is well 
illustrated by advertisements. It is said that the phrase, 
^^Just get the Delineator," repeated over and over again 
in advertisements in periodicals and on bill boards, some 
years ago, drove hundreds of men with no natural interest 
in its contents, to buy the magazine. Imagery is another 
potent means of suggestion, and figures of speech are 
especially emphasized by Scott. Indeed, any striking 
means of fixing attention may be used in suggestion. 

Authority and suggestion. All writers upon suggestion 
emphasize the force of authority and prestige. Ideas 
presented to us by one who commands our respect, 
either in general or with reference to the matter in hand, 
are often accepted without question. Their effect, which 
is distinct from that of authorities presented in an argu- 
ment to be weighed along with other evidence, is due to 
the fact that no doubts arise to divide attention. When 
a child accepts the statements of his father as absolute 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 225 

truth, we have an example of authority as suggestion. 
A friend of mine who accepts any statement made by 
Mr. Roosevelt as truth, acts on suggestion; and another 
friend who rejects any statement by the same gentleman 
acts on contra-suggestion. The soldier's unquestioning 
obedience also illustrates suggestion. 

A speaker can make use of authority by way of quota- 
tion from those greatly respected. Some can speak as 
authorities themselves. A speaker's authoritativeness 
is increased by judicious advertising of his coming, and 
by a degree of formality and dignity in the conduct of 
the meeting. He should not scorn taking some pains to 
secure announcements which, while they provoke inter- 
est in advance, do not suggest a cheap, sensational speech ; 
also to secure a proper place for speaking and suitable 
arrangements for the conduct of his meeting.^ 

The impulse to imitate. The impulse to imitate, strong- 
est in children, whose play is attempt after attempt to 
repeat the actions of their elders, is also strong in adults, 
though checked somewhat by judgment and habit. One 
yawns and a whole company yawns. We often see one 
who watches the movements of another with absorbed in- 
terest, unconsciously making imitative movements. It is 
not often that a speaker can perform upon the platform 
actions which he wishes his audience to imitate; though 
he may at times, as when he subscribes liberally to the 
cause for which he appeals. But he may be able to stir 
the impulse to imitate by bringing vividly into imagina- 
tion pictures of others doing what he wishes them to do, 
as fighting on the battlefield, the gridiron, or in the politi- 
cal arena. The speaker who is himself an embodiment 
of his cause, who is known to his hearers to have done 

1 The authoritativeness of the speaker will be more fully dis- 
eussed in the next chapter. 



226 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

with his might what he calls upon them to do, will 
peculiarly prompt imitation. Soldiers distinguished for 
gallant conduct are effective pleaders for enlistment in 
England during the European war. 

Social suggestion. Greater than the impulse to imitate 
single acts is the tendency to yield to environment, cus- 
tom, convention and common opinion. Our submission 
to these forces is due not merely to conscious fear of what 
our neighbors or Mrs. Grundy may say ; but it is largely 
the result of '^mass suggestion." Certain ideas are sug- 
gested to us on every hand ; they are constantly brought 
to attention, and win by reiteration. Doubt, criticism 
and deliberation in regard to them rarely get a chance. 

^ ' ^ Everything we do reveals the pull on conduct ex- 
erted by social pressure. Our foods and drinks, our 
dress and furniture, our religious emotions, our invest- 
ments, and even our matrimonial choices confess the 
sway of fashion and vogue. Whatever is common 
reaches us by way of example or advice or intimidation 
from a hundred directions. In our most private choices 
we are swerved from our orbit by the solar attraction — 
or repulsion — of the conventional. In public opinion 
there is something which is not praise or blame, and this 
residuum is mass suggestion. ' ' A man obeys this ' ' social 
imperative," not because he decides that it is wise to 
obey, ''but because he feels that he must." Those who 
do not obey are the ''deliberate criminal and the moral 
insurgent. ' ' 

"People of narrow orbit — children, farmers' wives, 
spinsters, peasants, fishermen, humble village folk, often 
soldiers and sailors — are slaves to an imposed sense of 
obligation. Prolonged exposure to a circle or group that 
speaks always with the same decision, the same commands, 
benumbs the will over whole areas of choice. On the 
other hand, whatever breaks the clench of the environ- 
ment or invigorates the will, — liberal education, discus- 

1 Ross, Social Control, p. 148. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 227 

sion, travel, varied experience, contact with new types of 
men, leadership, new ideas and wants, changes in general 
opinion or intellectual progress, — these undermine the 
tyranny of group suggestions. . . . Old colleges, uni- 
versities, monasteries, senates, academies, administrative 
departments, army and navy, ancient families and quiet 
neighborhoods become the haunt of traditions that cast a 
spell over those who come within their reach.'' 

The speaker who can make his audience feel the social 
imperative pushing them in the direction he wishes them 
to go, has a powerful weapon. This force will most often 
be available to repress radical action, or to turn men 
from courses deemed immoral by their communities. To 
use this force in support of unconventional or radical 
proposals, it is necessary to show that other and respected 
communities are acting in accord with the course pro- 
posed. Sometimes one can show that the larger com- 
munity of which the body addressed forms a part, has 
adopted the proposal. There is much influence, also, in 
the vague ^Hhey" who are doing so and so, or who are 
no longer doing so and so. In bringing to bear the in- 
fluence of other environments, we see again the part of 
imagination. 

We can appreciate the force of the above by reflecting upon the 
change produced in our interests, opinions and morals by changing 
from one environment to another widely differing, as from a country 
village to a large city. Again, we see college students filled with 
tremendous zeal for all the enterprises of student life and pledging 
undying loyalty to Alma Mater ; and we see many of these same men 
going out to forget her entirely in a new environment, which influ- 
ences them in the same way. Now, if a speaker has the power to 
make them live again the old life, he can make them feel again the old 
obligations. 

Immediate action. Suggestion prompts to immediate 
action ; and this is one of its advantages over argument. 
But this advantage suggests a corresponding disadvan- 



228 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

tage. *^ Normal suggestibility requires immediate execu- 
tion as one of its most indispensable conditions. " ^ It 
is wise, therefore, to provide some immediate outlet for 
the impulse. Advertisers provide a coupon to tear off 
and send at once, and make this as convenient as possible. 
^ ^ Do it to-day, ' ' they urge. ' ' Obey that impulse, ' ' — right 
away. Stamped and directed envelopes are sent out with 
circulars. So speakers ask their hearers to do something 
at once, to make a beginning by signing a card or a peti- 
tion, to vote for a resolution already prepared, to stand 
up, to join an organization, to subscribe at once though 
payment be not convenient till later. They gain immedi- 
ate assent in some form, if only vigorous applause for a 
sentiment thrown out for the purpose of giving rein to 
the awakened impulse, and of getting assent before there 
is time for doubt. 

Direct and indirect suggestion. In dealing with weak 
persons the direct command is often most effective ; but 
a weak person who suspects that he is being treated as 
weak, may resist with great stubbornness. The direct 
suggestion is in order when one is in authority over those 
addressed ; yet it is noticeable that men of great authority 
use it less than those of little. While there are times 
when the speaker should speak with authority, either his 
own or that of the power he represents ; yet direct com- 
mand or suggestion must be used with circumspection, 
lest it arouse hostility. One may say at times, ^^Why 
not do so and so," or, '^Let 's do so and so," or, ^'I sug- 
gest," or, ''So and so suggests." 

Indirect suggestion is most effective when our hearers 
arrive at the desired conclusion before it is fully ex- 
pressed, and the expression comes as a confirmation of a 
conclusion they have seemed to arrive at unaided. If an 

1 Sidis, The Psychology of Suggestion, p. 88. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 229 

acquaintance manages to get you interested in his needs 
so that the thought of lending him money comes to you, 
he is more likely to get help than if he asked you out- 
right. It is often best for the speaker to ask, ^^What 
shall we doT' provided he has insured the right answer 
by suggestion. 

A book agent employs direct suggestion when he leans toward one 
with blank and pencil, saying, "Sign here." We have to admit the 
trick is effective. Even if we resist it, we feel its pull. But when 
we realize the trick we resent it to the undoing of the agent, so far 
as that sale is concerned. 

Contra-suggestion. We can employ also contra-sugges- 
tion, of which McDougall says : ^ 

''By this word it is usual to denote the mode of action 
of one individual on another which results in the second 
accepting, in the absence of adequate logical grounds, 
the contrary of the proposition asserted or implied by the 
agent. There are persons with whom this result is very 
liable to be produced by an attempt to exert suggestive 
influence, or even by the most ordinary or casual utter- 
ance. One remarks to such a person. . . . *I think you 
ought to take a holiday, ' and, though he had himself con- 
templated this course, he replies, *No, I don't need one/ 
and becomes immovably fixed in that opinion." 

Do we not all feel the force of contra-suggestion when 
we see a sign, ''Hands off,'' or ''Keep off the grass." 
While a reasonably confident and positive manner is 
certainly better than a weak and fawning manner, it is 
plain that positiveness can easily be overdone, and that 
indirect suggestion is often needed. 

Mark Antony's speech in Julius Ccesar is a famous illustration of 
both indirect and contra-suggestion. Another illustration of contra- 
suggestion is found in lago's words to Othello, after subtly leading 
the latter to believe Desdemona untrue, "Let her live." Lovers 

1 Social Psychology, p. 101. 



230 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

of ''Uncle Remus" will be glad to identify contra-suggestion in the 
method of Brer Rabbit's escape after his capture by Brer Fox and 
his Tar Baby — " 'Do please, Brer Fox, don't fling me in dat brier- 
patch,' sezee." And consider how Tom Sawyer got his fence white- 
washed. 

Royce ^ speaks of social opposition, or the desire to con- 
trast one 's self with one 's fellows in behavior, opinion, or 
power. This desire for distinction, in small ways as well 
as in large, balances the tendency to imitate and conform. 
It is, as it seems to me, too little considered by writers 
on suggestion. 

Increasing suggestibility. By suggestibility is meant 
our degree of susceptibility to suggestion. Not only do 
individuals differ greatly in this respect, since they differ 
in their tendency to scrutinize and deliberate, but also 
the same persons differ much under different circum- 
stances which induce different moods. When more emo- 
tional we are more suggestible, for then we scan less what- 
ever is congruous with our feeling. Individuals and com- 
munities aroused by party feeling, war lust, calamities, 
or the fever of speculation, are little guided by judg- 
ment, but seize upon any suggestion congruous with their 
mood and carry it into immediate execution. 

Effect of numbers. Every speaker knows that it is 
easier to move a large number than a small; he knows 
that a few persons are more critical than a crowd. What- 
ever causes us to feel strongly our individuality, oui^ 
importance and responsibility as persons, works against 
suggestion. ^'Intensity of personality is in inverse pro- 
portion to the number of aggregated men. ' ' ^ When a 
proposal is put to one alone he feels he must exercise his 
judgment; but when many are present, he feels less 
keenly his responsibility. It is said that one reason cor- 

1 Outlines of Psychology, p. 277. 

2 Sidis, Psychology of Suggestion, p. 299. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 231 

porations do deeds which individual directors would 
never do, lies in the decreased sense of responsibility. 
The same reason may be given to explain the fact that 
large legislative bodies are more radical than small 
bodies, and also the fact that men in numbers will sup- 
port measures that individually they would not have the 
moral courage to support. 

The psychological crowd. This term means more than 
a large number of people together. That is termed 
a heterogeneous crowd. A thousand people who have 
come together casually in a city park or square, are more 
suggestible than a few ; but if they have come together for 
a common purpose, as to hear a socialist orator, they are 
much more suggestible. And if they are feeling a com- 
mon emotion, as hatred of capital or a sense of wrong, 
they are highly suggestible. A group ''fused'' together 
by some strong bond is called a psychological or homo- 
geneous crowd. In the following pages the single word 
crowd will bear this meaning. 

We see such crowds in a bleacher full of students cheering for 
their team in opposition to another crowd across the field ; in a 
theater where all share enjoyment of the play, or in an audience 
swayed by a common emotion. 

Characteristics of men in crowds. Men think less 
keenly in a psychological crowd, their minds being more 
or less overcome by mass suggestion. They are, there- 
fore, less critical and discriminating, more emotional and 
responsive. They will respond to sentiments more noble 
and more base than those which ordinarily control them. 
They are credulous and accept exaggeration as wisdom. 
With the decrease in the sense of personal responsibility, 
there is a relaxing of habitual restraints, reserve and 
caution. A crowd of men, usually polite, will hoot at 
strangers, women, or authorities. Men usually reserved 



232 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

will slap each other on the back, shake hands with strang- 
ers, parade in lock-step, laugh, shout, sing with abandon. 
Jokes are funnier, sorrows more grievous, sentiments 
more uplifting. They have more courage, but also more 
fear. A company of soldiers will stand fire longer than 
one man, but once routed may fall into a panic such as 
one man alone would never feel. Men in crowds are in 
every way more primitive. They place high value on 
symbols, regalia and watchwords. They are extremely 
imaginative. ^ ' To know the art of impressing the imagi- 
nation of crowds," says LeBon,i ^^is to know the art of 
governing them." 

Besides the loosening of restraint and the increase of 
emotional responsiveness in a crowd, there is the multi- 
plication of suggestion. When an idea presented by a 
speaker seems to be indorsed by all those about me, it is 
suggested to me by all, and is forced upon my attention^ 
driving out my opposing thoughts. Were you never in 
a meeting where the appeals of a fervid speaker were 
reflected by the intent faces of those about you? Did 
you not feel the power of the united pull? There is a 
feeling like that of slipping. If one is not to yield he 
must resist ; and the way to resist is to think hard of all 
the objections to the belief or the course urged. At times 
it is hard to recall these objections. Suppose you, a con- 
vinced pacifist, are in a crowd roused to enthusiasm by a 
plea for recruits for a war to you unjustifiable. You 
object to the plea, which is based upon nationalism and 
race hatred. Your objections are in no way answered 
by the speaker ; but unless you make an efifort you may 
lose your hold on these objections and be swept from 
your moorings. You fail to keep your attention on your 
real beliefs ; and it is conceivable that, in an extreme in- 

1 The Crowd, p. 61. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 233 

stance, you might come to yourself as a recruit. It would 
be the task of an opposition speaker, manifestly, very 
firmly and repeatedly to bring the objections back to 
attention. 

Sometimes we seem divided against ourselves, our feelings won, 
but our minds resisting. A story is told i of Wendell Phillips's ora- 
tion before the Harvard Phi Beta Kappa society, in which he made 
a conservative and distinguished audience applaud, more than thirty 
years ago, women's suffrage, Irish home rule, and Russian Nihilism. 
One man was heard "applauding and stamping his feet with the ut- 
most enthusiasm, exclaiming at the same time, 'The d — ^ — old liar, 

the d old liar I' " That was his way of keeping his attention on 

his real beliefs. 

Desirability of forming a crowd. I pass over for the 
present the moral question involved and consider only 
expediency. Plainly enough a crowd with its high degree 
of suggestibility is more easily swayed than a calmly 
deliberating body. But where deliberation is desired the 
crowd state is clearly undesirable. It must be remem- 
bered, too, that while some who are carried away by 
crowd feeling will remain won, many will recover their 
judgment and revolt. The surer way is to win by sound 
argument. On the other hand, even when the first 
business is conviction, the time comes when the delibera- 
tive mood must give way and the audience be brought 
into community of feeling; assuming that united action 
is desired. There are times, too, when there is no time 
for argument; when it is suggestion or nothing. And 
there are some people with whom argument at any time 
is impossible. At any rate, we wish to understand crowds 
and their formation, if only to know how to combat the 
efforts of an opponent to change an audience which we 
wish to retain as a deliberative body, into a crowd, and 
how to recover control when he has succeeded. 

1 Atlantic Monthly, December, 1912, p. 773. 



234 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Methods of forming a psychological crowd. There are 
many audiences which it is practically impossible to 
turn into a crowd, as when there are two opposing fac- 
tions in a political convention, — unless, indeed, these 
can be brought to compromise. Bodies whose business 
is deliberation, and audiences largely made up of men 
trained in argument, are not likely to yield except under 
the most emotional circumstance. 

We know that political conventions can be "stampeded." Andrew 
D. White has of late refused to attend national political conventions 
as a delegate, on the ground that they have lost their deliberative 
character, having come under the sway of the great audiences per- 
mitted in the galleries; that is, of mass suggestion. There are also 
in such conventions many delegates not trained to deliberate ; there 
is usually much excitement, and well understood methods are used to 
bring about "stampedes." 

We have already touched upon some of the means of 
changing an ordinary gathering into a psychological 
crowd, in our discussion of suggestion. The first favor- 
able condition is to have a large number of people to- 
gether. More important than actual numbers is having 
the hall full, even crowded. Avoid having two hundred 
people in a hall large enough for five hundred. If this is 
not possible, bring those present together in a compact 
body. Henry Ward Beecher said : ^ 

^^ People often say, ^Do you not think it is much more 
inspiring to speak to a large audience than a small one ? ' 
No, I say ; I can speak just as well to twelve persons as to 
a thousand, provided those twelve are crowded around 
me and close together, so that they touch each other. 
But even a thousand people, with four feet of space be- 

1 Yale Lectures on Preaching, First Series, p. 73. That the be- 
lief that crowds are something other than mere aggregations of in- 
dividuals and have individualities of their own, is not merely a 
theory of the "new'^ psychology, will be found by reading some not 
recent books by orators, such as Phillips Brooks's Lectures on 
Preaching, p. 183-188. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 2S5 

tween every two of them, would be just the same as an 
empty room. . . . Crowd your audience together and 
you will set them off with not half the effort. ' ' 

A young lady who had been successful in arguing "votes for 
women" in the streets of New York and in other places that would 
try the courage of most, told me that the worst time she ever had was 
before a very polite body of people seated around the sides of a 
room, leaving the center open. 

The reason given i for the greater ease of dealing with a compact 
body is that there is a limitation of the voluntary movements upon 
which our sense of individuality depends. It is also true that we 
are more sensible of the suggestions of our neighbors when we touch 
elbows. A man entering a hall to criticize proceedings and deter- 
mined not to yield to what he hears, will instinctively keep on the 
outskirts of the audience. 

Other means are taken to decrease the sense of per- 
sonality. Uniform costumes are provided, llembers of 
the audience are led to do things together, read a ritual, 
sing or cheer together, stand up and sit down, laugh, 
applaud, and vote together. Perhaps music is the great- 
est unifying force; but the essential is to induce all to 
yield to a common leadership. A story is told of a popu- 
lar evangelist who became so exasperated at a man who 
would not obey the summons, ' 'Now let us all join in sing- 
ing hymn No. 312, ' ' that he hurled his hymn book at the 
obdurate one. 

The speaker touches upon sentiments and opinions held 
in common. Perhaps he has kept back some secret, 
regarding the progress of the canvass, for example, or the 
gift of a new stadium, with which to set the crowd cheer- 
ing. He lets them laugh at jokes that appeal to all, and 
maybe turns abruptly to pathos ; and when the members 
of an audience have applauded, laughed, and maybe 
sighed a bit in common, much of the aloofness, reserve, 
and hostility of men as individuals is gone, and with it 

1 Sidis, Psychology of Suggestion, p. 299. 



236 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

their resisting power. Those around you seem like good 
fellows, though at first they may not have seemed your 
sort. Doing things together increases friendliness. It 
is impossible to consider a man who looks as foolish in his 
regalia as you do in yours, as an entire stranger. And 
the speaker, who agrees with your pet opinions and seems 
to have had the same human experiences, seems a good 
fellow too. This spirit of friendliness is as important as 
the lessening of individuality. 

Anything which creates a strained expectancy increases 
crowd feeling, as that great news is momentarily ex- 
pected, or that the solution of an important problem will 
soon be announced. A prolonged silence, provided it be 
charged with strong anticipation, will increase the effect 
of a following announcement. There should be no ap- 
pearance of aimlessness in the proceedings, but an im- 
pressive regularity, at least until the time arrives for 
some startling effect. Even an intense sort of monotony 
is desirable. To change the regular order, or otherwise 
to break the monotony, is a method of overcoming the 
crowd tendency; or it may be a step toward forming a 
crowd with different aims. 

When an attempt is made to stampede a political convention for a 
certain candidate, the regular order is broken in upon by, perhaps, a 
woman in white leaning from the balcony, waving a flag and shouting 
for her candidate. Then standards are seized, a procession is 
formed, headed perhaps by the same woman and a band Which plays 
over and over again the same strains, some piece popular in the con- 
vention, and with the paraders singing and shouting. In the midst 
of the seeming confusion, there is regularity to the point of monot- 
ony ; and the uproar is continued till success is assured, or exhaustion 
brings an end. Absurd as these proceedings are in the midst of con- 
ventions which we are solemnly told are essential to republican 
government, they sometimes succeed when "sprung" at the right 
moment ; usually when a convention is facing a deadlock and there 
is great tension of feeling, with hopelessness on the part of many in 
regard to nominating their favorite candidates. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 237 

Since witnessing what was widely reported as a stampede at the 
Progressive State Convention in Syracuse in 1912, where "Suspender 
Jack" is supposed to have swept the delegates off their feet, I am 
convinced that many so-called stampedes are not such in fact. The 
uproar in that case was the result of a belief that Mr. Oscar 
Strauss was the only nominee for governor of New York who could 
relieve the party of an embarrassing situation and give hope of suc- 
cess, and was a deliberate attempt to break down the resistance of 
Mr. Strauss to being nominated. He, if any one, was stampeded. 
It was to be noticed, however, that after the convention had gone 
through the form of a stampede, it was never again a delibera- 
tive body, and was impatient of argument and near the point of 
breaking loose at all times until the adjournment late the same 
evening. 

A word of warning. Do not suppose, as I speak of 
these extreme manifestations for the sake of illustrating 
crowd spirit, and shall go on to speak of still more ex- 
treme manifestations, that a psychological crowd is 
always in an uproar or doing extreme things. It may be 
intensely quiet, showing no signs except to the observant 
eye. Religious audiences, as often as any, become 
crowds; but they rarely become noisy, at least they 
rarely exceed the customs of the particular sect. More- 
over, audiences are but rarely completely fused into 
crowds. 

Mobs. Crowds pass into mobs. Even the heterogene- 
ous crowd is a potential mob. A startling event, as the 
cry of fire, may cause a mob. Fixation of attention ac- 
companied by the awakening of any intense feeling, such 
as anger, fear, triumph or contempt, may change a com- 
pany of people into a mob. The sight of a cruel act on 
the street may cause the formation of a mob more cruel 
than the object of its wrath. A group of school boys 
may quickly turn to a mob at the opportunity to ridicule 
one of its members. An audience which is not interested 
may become a mob under the inspiration of a witticism 



238 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

from the gallery, and the speaker will be skilful who 
regains control. 

A mob is in an extremely suggestible state, approaching 
that of hypnosis. ''Social suggestibility," says Sidis,^ 
''is individual hypnotization written large." The indi- 
vidual is lost in the crowd, which may be said to have 
an individuality of its own. The individual's sense of 
propriety and of responsibility, his morality and his 
judgment are gone. The mob's will is his will. He will 
entertain the wildest ideas suggested to him, he will do 
the most absurd, the most base, the most cruel, the most 
noble of acts, — acts which on the morrow he views with 
disgust, horror, or wonder. 

No honest man will ever wish to form a mob ; but he 
may wish to know how to check an audience which 
threatens to fall into the mob state, because it has 
been wrought upon by another, or because it has met in 
time of panic. Only a few hints can be attempted 
here. 

A crowd or a mob demands a leader. Even a herd 
of horses or steers will, when stampeded, select a leader. 
In this demand lies an opportunity for an honest man 
to lead for good, and of a demagogue to lead for evil. 
The first attempt of the one whose audience shows signs of 
running ' ' away with him, " is to make himself its leader. 
To do this it may be necessary to seem to fall in with its 
spirit and purpose, whatever they may be. Protest is 
useless. When their confidence is gained, it may be pos- 
sible to turn them in another direction, for a mob is very 
fickle. At times a trick is justifiable. A story is told 
of an audience determined to hoot down a speaker. A 
tall figure rose among them and caught their atten- 
tion for an instant. "Well, fellow citizens," the man 

1 Psychology of Suggestion, p. 327. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 239 

drawled, ^'I wouldn't keep still if I didn't want to." 
The crowd applauded the sentiment and then listened for 
more. ^^But if I were you, I should want to!" w^as the 
unexpected conclusion. They laughed and then kept 
still. Presumably this was a good-natured mob. If we 
take the extreme case of a mob bent on a lynching, there 
have been instances where leaders have led in the wrong 
direction, and, seemingly much disappointed themselves, 
have wearied the mob with their marchings and counter- 
marchings. 

The first and most difficult part of gaining leadership 
of a mob is to get its attention. Some striking gesture 
or pose may be necessary. A striking expression may be 
interjected into some pause in the noise. It is of course 
useless to attempt to argue with a mob, for it is incapable 
of reasoning. There is no use of telling a mob that what 
it wishes to do is wrong, for jeers or worse will be the 
answer to opposition. The mob has perfect confidence 
in the rectitude of its own intentions : it is going to free 
the town of an incubus, to drive out a monster, to do 
justice by a soulless corporation that is grinding the faces 
of the poor ; it is fighting for its homes, its children and 
the honor of its women. Since the mob is highly primi- 
tive, it thinks in images only; hence a would-be leader 
should address it in vivid imagery. It accepts as literal 
truth the most extravagant exaggeration, and likes large 
phrases and big, vague sentiments, put in the most abso- 
lute, unmodified form. The leader should talk much of 
liberty, equality, fraternity, of honor, patriotism, and the 
rights of man. He should explain nothing, but affirm 
and repeat. The mob is much influenced by prestige, and 
a man who enjoys high position in its eyes has a superior 
chance to control it; but any one can make use of the 
names of its heroes. 



240 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

A student tells me of how 800 students in his high school, seized 
by a sudden fancy, refused to go to their work after luncheon and 
proceeded to march around and around the school building with 
cheers and songs. They refused to listen to the principal, who 
begged them to return home at least ; but when Murphy, athlete and 
leader, jumped upon a box they listened ; and when he shouted, 
*'The Orpheum opens in five minutes ; let 's go," they went. 

There is a story told, with many non-essential variations, of how 
General Garfield checked the formation of a mob in New York 
during the Civil War. It was the night of Lincoln's assassination. 
A great crowd had gathered in City Hall Park, which threatened 
every moment to become a mob, likely to vent its wrath upon cer- 
tain ^'copperhead" newspapers. General Garfield was asked to try 
to quiet the crowd. Stepping out on a balcony, he stood with up- 
raised hands in full sight of the crowd, which surged over to hear 
his news. This was the news : 

" 'Clouds and darkness are round about him ; 

Righteousness and judgment are the habitations of his throne.' i 
"Fellow citizens ! God reigns and the government at Washington 
still lives !" 

The crowd dispersed and the danger was over. The familiar, sa- 
cred words, with their great image, caught the crowd, and held 
them long enough to enable them to receive the assurance that a 
greater than Lincoln was still in power, and that the government 
did not fall even with the beloved President. 

According to Le Bon ^ the mob is conservative. While 
it seems to be tearing down, it is fighting against change, 
for hereditary ideas and institutions. A student mob 
would be found in revolt against the destruction of a 
tradition. Since a mob cannot think, it cannot receive a 
new idea. Appeal to a mob, then, in the name of the old, 
the established. Appeal to any loyalty to institutions 
members of the mob may possess, — to party, college, 
city, country, or family. 

The mob is vain and will accept unlimited flattery 
as to its high character and purposes. Remember, too, 
that a mob may be turned to good deeds as well as to 
foul, if the better idea can be struck into its imagination. 

1 Psalms, 97 : 2. 2 The Crowd, p. 39. 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 241 

The mob is cowardly and may be put to flight by a cry 
of ''Fire/' or ''Police" ; but may be galvanized into hero- 
ism by the right leader. It admires courage. It must be 
faced boldly; any sign of weakness, any attempt to beg 
it to be good, will be derided. Napoleon, when but a 
very young brigadier, cowed with a "whiff of grape 
shot" the fierce mob that had ruled Paris. 

Since the most striking characteristic of a mob is the 
loss of individuality, try to restore this feeling to the nat- 
ural leaders. Appeal, if it be possible, to their sense of 
duty and personal dignity. Call upon them by name 
to step forward and commit themselves in plain words. 
If possible, get these men formed into a committee to 
determine action. 

But usually the mob demands immediate action. The 
leader may be able to suggest another and more attractive 
course, but one which will result in delay. This is the 
easier because a mob is remarkable for credulity, and does 
not distinguish between the possible and the impossible. 
If the mob is bent on revenge, suggest a more terrible 
revenge. By any means get delay ; for in most cases the 
mob feeling does not last long. "Sensations of hunger, 
cold, and weariness become so insistent as to distract at- 
tention."^ To move an adjournment for dinner, or to 
await the coming of a popular speaker, or for some other 
attractive purpose, is a standard method of preventing 
a convention from escaping the control of its leaders. 

Suggestion, crowds, and ethics. "When we consider 
the means of controlling men without convincing them 
intellectually, we are impressed with the serious moral 
responsibility involved ; but we may well remember that 
to influence others is a serious responsibility, whatever 
the methods employed. Even when men are controlled 

1 Ross, Social Psychology^ p. 54. 



242 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

by logical argument there is the same possibility that the 
weaker will be ruled by the stronger to their hurt; for 
by assuming false premises and facts, one may be as 
logical as Aristotle and as false as Beelzebub. "We must 
remember, too, as already stated, that there are times 
when logical argument can have little to do with per- 
suasion; as when conviction already exists but conduct 
is not in accord for lack of sufficient impulse, or when men 
are in conditions which incapacitate them for reasoning. 

There are treatises that picture men as always acting 
in the light of pure reason and from the highest motives. 
If any student were so gullible as to accept such teach- 
ings, he would be but slightly equipped for moral conflict. 
He must understand human nature. Persuasion is a 
practical matter; and we must take men as they are; 
and they are, in meetings and about their affairs, influ- 
enced by suggestion as well as by reason. I do not mean 
to imply that ideals should not guide us in this practical 
matter; but I do mean that facts must be faced. What 
use a speaker may make of his power will depend upon 
what kind of a man he is. The man who is unscrupulous 
off the platform will be unscrupulous on the platform. 
The honest speaker needs large knowledge of the springs 
of human action, if only that he may checkmate the dis- 
honest speakers who may oppose him. * ^ Be ye therefore 
wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. ' ' 

One cannot touch this subject of crowd control without 
feeling the inadequacy of a brief treatment, or of any 
treatment. One recognizes, too, the danger that a stu- 
dent may become fascinated by the subject of suggestion 
and make too much of it ; and the further danger that a 
little knowledge of it may produce an unwholesome dis- 
respect for audiences. But this last danger is likely to be 
offset by practical experience ; for the young speaker who 



PERSUASION— INFLUENCING CONDUCT 243 

deals with the average American audience, believing that 
he can manipulate them as he will and that they will not 
see through his tricks and fallacies, is in line for some 
highly beneficial shocks. 

Those who wish to follow up the subject of suggestion and crowds 
may do so in the works referred to in the preceding pages. It is to 
be said of the works of Le Bon and Sidis that they are far too cyn- 
ical in their view of human nature, and that their conclusions seem 
to be based too much upon such times of excitement as that of the 
French Revolution. All writers on suggestion, indeed, are likely to 
overemphasize its importance and to overlook other important truths. 
Ross's works are in popular vein, but should prove helpful. In his 
preface to Social Psijcliology he emphasizes the truth that all theories 
upon the subject are in an unsettled state. McDougall's Social 
Psychology will be found as reliable as any, but he devotes little 
space to suggestion and crowds. Many of the most authoritative 
psychologists say little or nothing of these topics ; first, perhaps, 
because they are not dwelling on the social aspects of their science, 
and, secondly, because they feel the topics are not ripe for strict 
scientific statement. Scott's Influencing 21 oi in Business has prob- 
ably the best popular comparison of suggestion and argument. This 
work and his books on advertising will be found useful and better 
than his book on public speaking, though this is well worth reading. 

Practical suggestions. The student of this chapter 
should be making persuasive speeches, taking up subjects 
which permit of genuine attempts to influence conduct, 
and which call less for convincing the audience of the 
desirability of action than for moving to action. He will 
profit, also, by studying persuasive speeches ; and for our 
present purpose, he should select speeches which have 
overcome passive rather than active opposition. Both 
in preparing and in studying persuasive speeches, the 
student should give special attention to the situation to 
be met, precisely what is to be overcome; and then to 
the means. Experience shows that this suggestion needs 
emphasis. A by no means unique instance was that of a 
student preparing a speech in favor of national prohibi- 



244 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

tion, without considering whether he would address those 
who believed in prohibition, those who did not believe in 
it, or those who believed prohibition a good thing but 
impracticable. 



CHAPTER IX 

PERSUASION AND BELIEF 

In the preceding chapter we have kept in mind es- 
pecially persuasion in those cases in which our hearers 
offer only passive opposition. In this chapter we shall 
give especial attention to cases in which there is more 
active opposition, due to intelligent doubt, contrary con- 
viction, opposing interests, or prejudice. It does not 
seem wise to attempt any sharp distinction between the 
problems considered in the preceding chapter and in 
this; and it should be understood that the suggestions 
of either chapter are, in great part, applicable to the 
problems of the other. 

Our primary study in this chapter is how to win be- 
lief, either as an end in itself, or as a preliminary to 
action; and on investigation we find we are facing the 
familiar problem of securing exclusive attention. ^^The 
most compendious possible formula, perhaps," says 
James,^ ^^ would be that our belief and attention are the 
same fact. For the moment, what we attend to is re- 
ality. ' ' Again, James says ^ belief ' ' resembles more than 
anything what in the psychology of volition we know as 
consent. . . . What characterizes both consent and be- 
lief is the cessation of theoretic agitation, through the 
advent of an idea which is inwardly stable, and fills the 
mind solidly to the exclusion of contradictory ideas." 
To secure the desired state of attention we may have to 

^Psychology, Vol. II, p. 322. 2 Idem, p. 283. 

245 



246 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

argue away doubts, change convictions, and win from 
prejudice the grace of a fair hearing. 

Does not this statement of theory square with experi- 
ence? Does not making up your mind after a struggle 
seem like shutting your mental eyes to all conclusions 
but one, or to the reasons for them, whether you do this 
arbitrarily or because your judgment advises that this is 
the better course? Perhaps you have had a struggle 
over which is the best college, or the best fraternity; 
or whether the Germans or the Allies are in the right. 
Once the question is settled, you may later wonder why 
you were ever in doubt. One cause of this is, that after 
the decision is made you refuse to give other possible de- 
cisions a square look, and that while you eagerly admit 
new reasons to support your decision, you refuse to con- 
sider fairly reasons against it. If you have ''let the 
worse appear the better reason, ' ' and remain at all open- 
minded, the dishonored better reason may return to vex 
you. With the mentally honest an opinion is never in 
stable equilibrium unless it is founded on sound reason- 
ing ; but with such questions as those instanced we rarely 
give attention to the possibility of mistake. 

It will prove suggestive, especially for advanced students, to con- 
eider this doctrine further. We may notice that, in the words of 
Bain, *'We believe everything that comes into the mind unopposed" ; 
or as Pillsbury says,i "Anything that enters the mind is normally 
accepted as true at once.'' Belief is passive ; doubt is active. The 
child believes all it is told ; doubt comes as the result of experience. 
If an opinion is suggested so that it arouses no opposition, it is 
accepted. But if doubts do arise, or contrary opinions already 
exist, then these must be driven from mind in order to win for 
the doubted or rejected opinion exclusive attention. "I can find 
in a moment of belief,'' says Pillsbury,2 "nothing but the stable 
persistence of the idea or state that is believed." To the end of 
giving ideas "stable persistence" in the minds of others, all the 
methods and means of argumentation should tend. 

1 Psychology of Reasoning, p. 31. 2 Idem^ p. 57. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 247 

Pillsbury lays great stress i upon the truth that belief depends 
upon experience, and illustrates with the following, which both 
bears upon the point under discussion and furnishes a good point 
of view for the study of argumentation. (Italics are mine.) 

"One may believe in socialism if one considers the evident dispar- 
ity between the rewards of individuals who may be regarded as of 
the same ability or as of the same degree of desert. One is firmly 
opposed to socialism when men are regarded as essentially very 
different in ability, and ability and desert are identified. . . . Just 
so long as the two sets of experiences fluctuate hefore the mind, one 
will be in doubt as to which of the abstract principles is more de- 
sirable. When one persists, it is hy that very fact helieved. . . . 
And individuals will be predominantly individualistic or socialistic 
as life as a whole has presented the advantages or the disadvantages 
of the present individualistic society. . . . We have a belief in one 
theory or the other just so long as one set of experiences predom- 
inate in consciousness ; doubt enters when there is rivalry between 
two sets of experience." 

2 "One can change the belief of any individual either by giving 
him new and different experiences, or by so presenting a statement 
that it shall arouse a different set of experiences to pass upon the 
statement. Both methods are applied in practical argumentation. 
The effectiveness of a plea depends upon the success with which 
new groups of experiences can be aroused to give the attitude 
desired. When the attitude is properly aroused belief follows as a 
matter of course." 

Persuasion and belief. We decided in the last chapter 
to apply the term persuasion to the process of inducing 
others to give fair, favorable, or exclusive attention to 
propositions. We have just seen that hplipf is also a nii^ t- 
ter of attention. In seeking to give ' ' stable persistence ' ' 
to ideas in minds that have not before held them, or have 
held opposing ideas, we try to change the attitude of those 
minds to the end that there may be willingness to listen 
at all, that there may be an o pen-minde d reception of 
our arguments, and a willingness, or even a desire, to be- 
lieve ; and we also employ logical arguments which fur- 
nish grounds for accepting the belief we urge, and which 
serve to drive opposing arguments from the hearers' 
minds, so weakening and discrediting them that if they 
return they will be received with scant respect. No 
hard and fast distinction should be understood here, only 

"^Psychology of Reasoning, p. 38. ^ Ideni, p. 53. 



248 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

an emphasizing of the fact that there may be two phases 
of one process. That the distinction is not strict is evi- 
dent from the fact that sound argument is in itself an 
important means of winning attention. It is possible, as 
we noted in the preceding chapter, to cover the whole 
process of producing conviction with the term persuasion; 
but it is both correct and convenient to limit its mean- 
ing, as applied to this process, to the winning of atten^ 
tion and acceptance for the arguments which reason pre- 
sents. 

The importance of logical argument. I shall not in this 
text attempt a systematic treatment of argument in the 
stricter sense ; but shall leave that to the many excellent 
works on logic and argumentation. Such topics as the 
rules of evidences, fallacies, the analysis and briefing of 
arguments, will receive only incidental attention, while I 
shall give space chiefly to the adaptation of arguments to 
audiences, a matter which is of the very essence of 
persuasion. 

Yet while I prefer not to give here a necessarily brief 
and inferior treatment of logical argument, but to em- 
phasize the means of gaining a hearing for one 's logic and 
facts, I do not wish even to suggest that sound logic may 
be ignored, or that the phases of the subject here dis- 
cussed are in any way inconsistent with logic. Rather I 
would impress upon all students of public speech the im- 
portance of sound logical argument, based upon facts and 
the most rigorous analysis. This there should be al- 
though the circumstances of a speech do not admit of 
detailed statement of its logical basis. In the first place, 
a speaker owes a high duty to himself and to his audience 
to determine and to speak the truth as best he can. He 
can never tell how far his most casual word may reach. 
In the second place, expediency coincides with duty. In 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 249 

most assemblies the stronger minds control ; in all commu- 
nities, in the long run, they formulate opinions and de- 
termine action. And these stronger thinkers resent an 
attempt to control them against their judgment. They 
^will not often cease questioning and balancing arguments, 
and yield their undivided attention, until the demands of 
reason have been satisfied. If a triumph is gained in 
defiance of reason, reason will reassert itself. We shall 
see that emotion has much to do with determining what 
are good reasons ; but sound reasoning cannot be safely 
ignored. 

I spoke of Wendell Phillips's triumph in making a conservative, 
cultured audience applaud Nihilism. His triumph, however, was 
more amusing than lasting. A few hours later his hearers were 
indignant at what they considered a trick. On the evening of the 
same day, ''Charles Eliot made a forcible and eloquent five-minute 
speech at the dinner, vigorously rejecting Phillips's doctrine and 
exposing the essential fallacy of his discourse." 

There is likely to be some one at hand to expose the 
man who attempts to befog reason ; if not another speaker 
on the same occasion, or on a later occasion, it may be 
a newspaper writer, or some hard-headed man on the 
street or in the club, who will expose the bad argument 
next day. Opponents will seize upon every weak link in 
one's logic, or whatever can be made to seem weak. 
Doubters will persistently demand ^^Why?" and ''What 
is the evidence?" Argument, to he surely effective, 
sJiould be at once persuasive and sound. 

I urge upon every student of public speaking, a? an important 
foundation for our work, the thorough study of the analysis of 
propositions, the briefing of arguments, the methods of detecting and 
exposing fallacies, and the laws of evidence. Such studies will be 
of great assistance in all branches of composition ; and, indeed, in 
most branches of learning. I am not now speaking of college de- 
bating, though this intellectual sport, properly conducted, can be 
made a valuable training for the combats of courts and conventions. 



250 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Emotion in argument. Having said so mucli on the 
importance of sound logic, I now call your attention to the 
part of emotion in argument. I do not mean in befogged, 
illogical argument, but in clear, logical argument. Let 
us notice, first, that in dealing with those practical issues 
that directly affect human conduct, the very basis of 
argument is emotion; or as we noted in the preceding 
chapter, the major premise of such an argument is the 
expression of an emotion. If we argue that the square 
of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum 
of the squares of the other two sides, we have pure reason- 
ing, free from emotion ; but when we take up the propo- 
sition that Congress should pass the immigration bill, 
involving an illiteracy test, over the President's veto, we 
are constantly dealing with emotions. We must assume 
first the emotion of patriotism, or that all desire the good 
of the country. As we proceed we find ourselves meet- 
ing with emotions involved in the interests of labor and 
of corporations, with self-interest and the love of justice, 
with race prejudices and loyalties, with the sentiment 
that America should remain the home of the oppressed, 
with pity for those who have had no opportunity for edu- 
cation, and with a reluctance on the part of many to 
pass a measure over President Wilson's veto. If we 
looked beneath the surface of newspaper discussion, we 
might find certain religious feelings playing an active 
part in the settlement of this issue. The fact that some 
of these feelings ought not to influence our judgment of 
the question, and the fact that none of them should be 
permitted to put us in such a state that we cannot rea- 
son justly, do not change the facts that an argument on 
the issue impinges upon emotion at every point, that some 
of these emotions are necessary to a proper solution, that 
they are, in fact, excellent reasons, and that any one or 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 251 

several of them, good and bad, may be dominating the 
minds of your hearers as you address them. The ques- 
tion selected is far from an extreme instance, as you will 
see if you think for a moment of such questions as inter- 
collegiate athletics, modern dancing, woman's suffrage, 
and blame for the European war. 

In the second place, we notice with regard to the 
influence of emotion on argument, the strong tendency 
of men to believe ivhat they wish to believe,^ ''Will 
and belief are undoubtedly common products of the same 
deeper lying forces. Whatever appeals to us strongly 
enough to tempt us to desire to believe, by the very same 
appeal compels belief." Experience declares, ''A man 
convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." ^ 
Almost as famous is the saying attributed to a Scotchman, 
^'I am quite open to conviction, Sandy, but I should like 
to see the man who can convince me. ' ' This tendency to 
believe what we wish to believe is encouraged by the fact 
that, with reference to questions at all debatable, there are 
reasons, usually good reasons, in support of either al- 
ternative. One arrives at a decision by weighing the 
opposing arguments. Now, if he wishes to arrive at a 
certain conclusion, the arguments for it seem weighty 
and those in opposition very light. He is likely to refuse 
credence to witnesses and authorities against the de- 
sired conclusion. He may even refuse to listen to oppos- 
ing arguments ; or he may listen in an attempt to be fair, 
but with a subconscious determination to discredit what 
he hears, saying all the while, That is not true ; That is 
not important ; or, That is insufficient. In other words, 
he refuses fair attention. 

1 Pillsbury. Psycliology of Reasoning, p. 54. 
2Cf. Csesar, Gallic War, Book III, Ch. 18: Fere lilenter 
homines, quod volunt, credunt. 



252 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

No doubt you are a Mghly reasonable person ; still if you were 
to learn that your deceased uncle had cut you off from an expected 
legacy, you might find it easy to believe the old man non compos 
mentis when he executed his will. Learning later that he had added 
a codicil in your favor, you might find no difiiculty in believing that 
at the approach of death his mind cleared. We expect to-day to find 
men of German parentage pro-German in their opinions about the 
war, and men of English parentage pro-English. We say, "Their 
sympathies are naturally that way." We may give many logical 
reasons for our positions, but how many are there among us who 
take pride in our trained minds, who determined our attitude toward 
this war by impartial reasoning? 

I do not wish to be understood as asserting that a man will or can 
believe whatever he wishes to believe. Evidence may be too strongly 
against desire. We say at times we are afraid to believe this or 
that, or that a certain belief is too good to be true. However, when 
a man does not follow his desire to believe, the reason will usually 
be that another emotion intervenes ; his thinking is guided by a 
strong love of truth, or he is held back by a fear of the consequences 
of a mistake. So he resists the tempting belief by holding atten- 
tion upon the reasons against it.i 

In practical speaking instances of the effect of desire 
upon judgment are common enough. We find only too 
many instances of juries led by their sympathies to ignore 
the plain purport of the evidence. It is my belief that in 
these cases the jurors rarely consciously violate their 
oaths, but that their desires control them in selecting 
and rejecting evidence. 

I sat as a spectator, with a slight bias toward the prosecution, 
through the trial of a young woman for the killing of her husband. 
The case for the defense was the bad character of the victim 
(worked into the evidence in spite of the rules), and "emotional 
insanity,'' testified to by several sisters, a weeping mother and a 
pathetic old father, who, one all the time hoped, would make out a 
good case, in spite of the fact that they were palpably straining the 
truth. The summing up of the astute attorney for the defense pre- 
sented briefly an argument which, had it been based upon established 
facts, would have justified an acquittal, and a long address to the 
sympathies of the jury, closing with, "Give her back to her mother.'' 
The jury, apparently an intelligent body of men, rendered a verdict 

1 Cf. Camille Bos, Psychologie de la Croyance, p. 81. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 253 

of not guiltj', in spite of damning testimony which they must have 
refused to remember. And I felt that no jury, though it were drawn 
from the district attorney's office itself, would have rendered a ver- 
dict of murder in the first degree, so strongly would they have wished 
to believe in the "brain storm." 

If there is any place where all save pure logical argument would 
seem to be out of place, it is before the Supreme Court of the United 
States ; yet even there argument contains more than law, facts and 
logic, and lawyers take into consideration the tendencies, the feel- 
ings, even the prejudices, of the justices. When Webster argued 
the Dartmouth College Case, at a time when the Court contained 
such men as Marshall and Story, he was swept at the end into an 
undoubtedly sincere outburst of feeling for his college : 

"Sir, you may destroy this little institution ; it is weak ; it is in 
your hands I I know it is one of the lesser lights in the literary 
horizon of our country. You may put it out. But, if you do so, 
you must carry through your work ! You must extinguish, one 
after another, all those greater lights of science, which for more 
than a century, have thrown their radiance over our land ! 

*'It is, sir, as I have said, a small college, and yet there are those 
who love it. 

"Sir, I know not how others may feel [glancing at the opposing 
attorneys,] but for myself, when I see my Alma Mater surrounded, 
like Caesar in the Senate house, by those who are reiterating stab 
after stab, I would not, for this right hand, have her turn to me 
and say, Et tu quoque, mi fili! And thou too, my sonT^ 

An eyewitness wrote : 

"The court-room during those two or three minutes presented an 
extraordinary spectacle. Chief Justice Marshall with his tall gaunt 
figure, bent over to catch even the slightest whisper, the deep 
furrows of his cheeks expanded with emotion, and his eyes suffused 
with tears ; Mr. Justice Washington at his side, . . . leaning far 
forward with an eager troubled look ; and the remainder of the 
court at the two extremities, pressing, as it were, toward a single 
point, while the audience below were wrapping themselves around 
in closer folds beneath the bench to catch each look and every 
feature of the speaker's face." 

The court did not pronounce its decision until after the summer 
recess ; but it is believed that the strong desire to protect the college, 
created in its members, led the court to render a decision which was 
bad law, and which has been used to serve the ends of corporate 
injustice ever since. It is a legal proverb that "Hard cases make bad 
laws," which is only a way of saying that the sympathies of courts 
lead them to unsound decisions. 

I have not cited these instances to justify them; but 
because I wish to represent human nature as it is, and be- 
cause I wish to impress the truth that while attempts 



254 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

at befogging judgment by means of emotion are not justi- 
fiable, we cannot ignore our hearers' emotional attitude, 
and that if it be against us we can make little head- 
way with the soundest logic. But frequently I am told 
by my students, '^Men ought not to be influenced in 
their thinking by their emotions and prejudices." 'No 
one is stricter with other people's thinking than your 
sophomore. He himself is open-minded in regard to 
those subjects in which he has a purely intellectual 
interest; but hear him argue on ^ ^ activities, " woman's 
suffrage, or religion! At any rate, the question is not 
how men should think, but how they do think. These 
are the words of a practical idealist, Woodrow Wilson : ^ 

^'As I look back upon the past of the South, it seems to 
me to contain that best of dynamic forces, the force of 
emotion. We talk a great deal about being governed by 
mind, by intellect, by intelligence, in this boastful day of 
ours; but as a matter of fact, I don't believe that one 
man out of a thousand is governed by his mind. 

' ' Men, no matter what their training, are governed by 
their passions, and the most we can hope to accomplish 
is to keep the handsome passions in the majority." 

After all, are we not much too scornful of emotions? 
It is true that men are often governed by unjustified 
emotions ; but it is also true that they are often led astray 
by false logic. There are more men who feel truly than 
there are who reason justly. Even Huxley, who held 
up the ideal of a mind which is a ^^cold logic engine," 
wished men to have strong emotions, though well con- 
trolled. So eminent a scientist as Baldwin has written : ^ 

** Neither will logic satisfy our moral or sesthetic de- 
mands, for the logically true is often immoral and hid- 

1 From a speech to the New York Southern Society in 1910, 
found in Wood's After-Dinner Speeches, p. 46. 

2 Elements of Psychology, p. 262. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 255 

eons. It is well, therefore, to write large the truth that 
logical consistency is not the whole of reality, and that 
the revolt of the heart against fact is often as legitimate 
a measure of the true in this shifting universe as is the 
cold denial given by rational conviction to the vagaries 
of casual feeling. ' ^ 

In the third place, we may notice that emotions not 
properly belonging to the argument itself, affect de- 
cisions. These may arise from the occasion. The audi- 
ence may be enthusiastic or bored, good natured or angry. 
Again, emotions may arise from the relation of speaker 
and audience. They may feel great respect for him, or be 
pleased by his manner, his friendliness and good humor ; 
or they ma}" dislike him and feel resentment or suspicion, 
and these feelings affect the influence of his argument. 

Not over-scrupulous lawyers for the defense in criminal cases in- 
sinuate that the prosecution has been unfair, and that the prosecut- 
ing attorney is trying to win reputation by ''railroading" innocent 
and friendless young men to prison. And, although the trick is 
old, the prosecuting attorney, knowing that he cannot safely ignore 
the prejudice created in the minds of the jury, labors to convince 
them of his fairness and to destroy the sympathy created for the 
defendant. 

When the defendant's attorney in the famous Captain Joseph 
White murder case sought to prejudice the jury by insinuating that 
Webster had been engaged by the State to hurry them against the 
law and beyond the evidence, Webster made it his first business in 
summing up to remove the prejudice created. He commented first on 
his lack of experience as a prosecutor, and proceeded : 

"I hope I have too much regard for justice and too much respect 
for my own character, to attempt either : and were I to make such 
an attempt. I am sure that in this court nothing can be carried 
against the law, and that gentlemen, intelligent and just as you 
are, are not, by any power, to be hurried beyond the evidence. 
. . . Against the prisoner at the bar. as an individual. I cannot 
have the slightest prejudice. I would not do him the slightest 
injury or injustice. But I do not affect to be indifferent to the 
discovery and the punishment of this deep guilt." 

, Webster then proceeded to that terrible picture of the cowardly 
stabbing of a gentle old man in his sleep, removing any disposition 
in the jury to let pity obscure duty ; and continued with an intro- 



256 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

duction that fills thirteen pages, preparing the jury emotionally for 
a fair consideration of his argument, before he took up the evidence. 
One studying this speech will find many places in which he showed 
consciousness of the danger from sympathy and prejudice; for in- 
stance, in the careful way in which he intimated to the jury the 
probability that the defendant's old father was untrustworthy in his 
testimony, and again in his solemn exhortation to the jury at the 
close. 

This speech will repay study. It will be found in full in Mc- 
Ewan's Essentials of Argumentation, with an outline, a history of 
the case, and also many helpful comments, scattered through the 
text. Study the whole speech, not merely introduction and con- 
clusion. 

Prejudices such as Webster faced, and those which may 
arise when one discusses a race question, sectional or 
sectarian questions, women's suffrage, or fraternities, are 
fairly tangible ; but others are more elusive. President 
Lowell ^ mentions not only religious intolerance and racial 
antipathy, but also, ^'the horror of the man of an un- 
familiar form of worship, the instinctive dislike of the 
man who speaks a different tongue or pronounces his 
words in a strange way, ' ' as feelings which must be taken 
into account in dealing with a popular opinion. The mere 
fact that a man comes from a different environment, from 
city or country, that he is wealthy, that he uses ^*big" 
words, that he is a college professor, may affect his influ- 
ence either favorably or unfavorably. The fact that 
prejudice is politely concealed makes it no less real. 
Some of the ladies in an audience may think a young 
speaker, ^^such a dear boy," but feel that his opinions 
are therefore inconsequential: others may be sure he 
thinks himself '^mighty smart.'' Do not doubt that the 
fate of many a speech is determined before it is be- 
gun. 

To summarize: In practical argument we cannot ig- 

1 Public Opinion and Popular Government, p. 36. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 257 

nore the part of emotion in determining belief. We must 
consider what manner of men we are addressing, what 
feelings move them, how opposition can be abated and 
a mood of friendliness and candor established. 
And, further, what we wish men to believe it is wise 
first to make them willing, or make them wish, to be- 
lieve. 

The approach. It is evident that in our efforts to win 
past opposition to open-minded attention, much will de- 
pend upon first impressions. It was Cicero who said that 
the purpose of an introduction is reddere auditores benev- 
olos, attentos^ dociles, which has been well translated, '^to 
render the hearers well-disposed toward the speaker, at- 
tentive toward his speech, and open to conviction." 
Genung lays much stress ^ on the ' ' speaker 's alliance with 
his audience," a phrase worth remembering. This rela- 
tionship is much affected by the characteristics of the 
speaker, his tact, fairness, courage, sincerity, etc., — mat- 
ters which will be treated further on. We proceed here 
to other matters important to winning a fair hearing for 
a proposition. 

Avoid a belligerent attitude. If a speaker hopes to 
gain the sympathy of his audience, he should not start 
a fight with them by assuming that he and they are 
necessarily in disagreement. A humorous writer makes 
a character say, ' ' Mother, you made your first grand mis- 
take in running Votes-for- Women as a controversy. It 
never was. It is not now. I don't know a man in my set 
who understands yet what the arguments against women 's 
suffrage are. But you people labeled it a battle and we 
are just filling in the mob cues. ' ' There is a point in this 
exaggeration. Not long ago I heard presented so bel- 
ligerently one of my strongest convictions, — that *^ first 

1 Practical Rhetoric, p. 449. 



25S PUBLIC SPEAKING 

in the orator is the man, ' ' — that I felt strongly moved to 
contradict, to accept the part of opposition the speaker 
seemed to assign to all his hearers. 

Belligerency is particularly unpersuasive, as well as 
usually unjust, when it takes the form of bitter and un- 
restrained denunciation. 

Here is a speech on War, which starts with the most uncom- 
promising denunciation. War has absolutely no justification. The 
general tone of the speech indicates that he who differs is a fool or 
a monster. The speech is as unreasoning as war itself. No at- 
tempt is made to lead step by step the man who has no clearly 
formed opinion. The unfairness and exaggeration of this speech 
(fairly force one into opposition. Here is another speech urging 
municipal ownership of street railways. The would-be orator leaps 
at once into the fiercest denunciation of capital and corporations; 
and with slight argument urges us to rise in our wrathful manhood 
and resist the tyranny of five-cent fares. 

Least tactful of all are opprobrious epithets applied to 
the persons and institutions one is opposing; as when 
Garrison called the Constitution ' ' a covenant with death 
and an agreement with Hell." A suffrage agitator re- 
cently referred to ^^our mossgrown Constitution"; but 
when an auditor rose to protest, she promptly retracted 
the term and declared she meant no disrespect ! Abusive 
terms, especially when applied to persons, turn sympathy 
from the speaker. Even that savagely extravagant de- 
nouncer, Wendell Phillips, once checked Charles Remond, 
who had declared that ^^ George Washington was a vil- 
lain. " ^' Charles, ' ' said Phillips, ' ' the epithet is not felic- 
itous." Benjamin Lundy, another uncompromising foe 
of slavery, held that ^^the language of cutting retort and 
severe rebuke, is seldom convincing, and it is wholly out 
of place in persuasive speech." 

There is a time for denunciation, but that time is not 
when you are asking your audience to consider fairly 
a proposal not yet accepted. When one is addressing 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 259 

those in agreement, for the purpose of arousing them, de- 
nunciation may win a quick success, though unlimited 
denunciation is rarely just. But its effect upon those in 
opposition is manifestly unfortunate, and it is likely to 
cause neutrals to sympathize with those denounced. A 
campaign of abuse is rarely successful in politics. 

Argument is the most usual, and certainly the most 
tangible, method of changing belief. When objections 
are certainly in your hearers ' mind, the best way usually 
is to recognize them and answer them directly and boldly, 
though not belligerently. Nevertheless, conceal it as 
much as one can, there is still in argument an attempt to 
overcome that provokes resistance. In candid minds 
this is largely offset by their loyalty to truth. But it is 
quickened by the attitude we call ^^argumentative," es- 
pecially if there is a touch of triumph in it. We dislike 
one who relentlessly proves us wrong and himself alto- 
gether right. Miss Ida Tarbell somewhere uses a sug- 
gestive phrase in speaking of the Canadian leader, Mac- 
donald: **He is a convincing speaker whom one does 
not resent." 

This tendency to resist argument is of course stronger 
in minds not candid, either in general or with reference 
to a particular argument. With such it is often justifi- 
able to avoid the direct onslaught and make a flank attack. 
Sometimes we may avoid reference to controverted points 
and dwell upon propositions less likely to stir opposition, 
but which involve the desired conclusion. One might 
make headway with women more strongly than thought- 
fully opposed to women's suffrage, by avoiding all refer- 
ence to the ballot and discussing laws which, in certain 
states, discriminate against women. Assuming that a 
good case can be made out and resentment awakened, one 
might find the anti-suffragists themselves demanding the 



260 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

ballot as a means of forcing reform. "We may sometimes 
merely suggest the desired conclusion, hoping that it will 
stick in memory and sometime get candid consideration. 
Sometimes we may assume assent rather than argue for 
it. This method counts upon inertia ; a man who would 
not positively assent, may fail actively to reject. 

Better than to argue sometimes is just to describe the 
conditions to which your proposal relates. The influence 
of TJncle Tom's Cabin surpassed that of many arguments, 
put as arguments. Pages' Bed Bock served to open the 
eyes of Northern readers to the Southern attitude toward 
the freedman. The most effective peace speech I ever 
heard was in form only a description of the fighting in 
Belgium. 

If those who since the beginning of the Great War have been 
trying to argue American opinion into a more favorable state toward 
Germany, could put forward a champion who, without a touch of 
the rancorous argumentativeness which characterizes such papers 
as The Fatherland, could make us realize Germany and the Germans, 
not the men of "blood and iron," but the simple, homely, likable 
Germans, could make us realize that they are just "folks," not 
merely efficient destructive machines, they could win a hearing for 
their genuine arguments. 

Common ground. Not only should we avoid awaken- 
ing hostility; we should seek an alliance with our audi- 
ence by getting on common ground with them. In 
Chapter VI we considered the advantage of finding a com- 
mon ground of interest, and leading on from this, in ac- 
cordance with the principle of derived interest. This is 
persuasive, as are nearly all the means of winning at- 
tention. 

We like a person who shapes our interests. When two 
persons are interested in the same sport, study or busi- 
ness, each is likely to assume that the other is a proper 
sort of person, wise in his general outlook. Consider how 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 261 

casual acquaintances, perhaps on a railway journey, are 
drawn together by discovering that they have the same 
enthusiasms, have gone through the same experiences, 
even the same ailments, come from the same town, sprung 
from the same race, have gone to the same college, or that 
both are Republicans or Presbyterians. Bonds as strong 
and as slight as these draw men together into societies 
holding conventions and dinners. Business men think 
it worth while to spend a little time in getting on easy 
terms with a stranger with whom they hope to do busi- 
ness, by talking of common interests. So the skilful 
speaker may break the ice by referring to common inter- 
ests, if possible those which will form a natural introduc- 
tion to his theme. 

There is also a common ground of feeling to be con- 
sidered. While in most cases the straightest way into a 
subject is the best way, at times it is advisable to spend 
a few minutes in bringing the audience into a desired 
mood. Finding common interests helps in this. The 
awakening of old memories may serve, or emphasis upon 
common likes and dislikes and associations. Stories are 
much used, humorous and dramatic. Hostility cannot 
survive the sharing of a common emotion, and especially 
is it blown away by a gale of laughter. In using any 
device it is well to consider : (1) Is it needed? (2) Am I 
giving too much time to it ? (3) Can I make my story, or 
whatever is used, serve also the purpose of opening my 
subject; or can I make the proper materials of my 
speech, as the statement of conditions to be treated, serve 
to induce the right mood? 

To create sympathy is the sovereign remedy for genuine hostility. 
Suppose a defender of Austria-Hungary is striving to convince a 
hostile audience that that nation was right in its ultimatum to Servia. 
He knows his audience will not listen patiently at first to his argu- 



262 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

ments based on the assassination of the crown prince and Servian 
plotting in general. He therefore reminds us in some detail of how 
the blowing up of the Maine incensed us against Spain. He asks 
us to consider the effect of having a country on our border trying 
constantly to stir up one section of the United States against an- 
other, or inciting the members of one race to revolt. In every way 
he tries to get us *'to put ourselves in the other fellow's place." 

There is also a common ground of belief. To find this 
is one of the best established means of persuasion. In the 
first place, better feeling results from the discovery by the 
audience that they have more in common with the speaker 
than was supposed, and that he is not so radical or so 
conservative as they had thought. This discovery pre- 
pares the way for the belief that his present proposal 
is not impossible. There is also an enjoyment in har- 
mony of views, and it is a wrench to stop agreeing with 
a man with whom one has gone some way in harmony. 
Give an audience something it will indorse as common 
sense, and once the heads are nodding in assent, they are 
likely to go on nodding. The assenting mood continues, 
as by easy stages the speaker leads from the common 
ground to the desired position. 

Of Wendell Phillips's Phi Beta Kappa oration, Barrett WendeU 
says : i 

"A good many went to hear him with much curiosity as to what 
he might say, and apprehension that they might have to disapprove 
it by silence at moments which to less balanced minds might seem 
to call for applause. In the earlier parts of his oration they found 
themselves agreeably surprised : he said nothing to which they 
were unprepared to assent, and what he said he said beautifully. 
They listened with relief and satisfaction. When the moment for 
applause came, they cordially applauded. So the oration went on 
with increasing interest on the part of the audience. Finally 
when some fresh moment for applause came, they applauded as a 
matter of course." 

While the common ground may be used in a somewhat 
sly way, do not suppose it is, of itself, illegitimate. If 
to avoid prejudice and to bring about harmony of feeling 

1 English Composition^ p. 243. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 263 

so that fair-mindedness shall prevail, is right, then this 
method is right. Usuall}^ people actually differ much less 
than they suppose. Unless they proceed to find out 
what they agree upon, they may continue to differ quite 
unnecessarily and develop a small divergence of views 
into a bitter combat. Some one has said that there never 
was a war that could not have been settled by two 
honest men come together for frank discussion. 

When Pat went to Mike and said, "Let 's talk over our differen- 
ces," the wiser Mike replied, "No, let 's talk over our agreements." 
Mike's method was likely to lead to a settlement; Pat's to a fight. 

A speaker addressing a meeting of his own political 
party, seeking to win them to his views on a party prob- 
lem, has no difficulty in finding common ground in the 
general beliefs and policies of the party. When he ad- 
dresses those of other party affiliations, he still should 
have no difficulty; for, after all, fair-minded men of all 
parties agree in most respects. All wish, at least in a 
general way, prosperity, justice for all men and defense 
of the national honor. Political parties differ more as to 
method than as to principles. All wish to control the 
trusts, for example, but how? Very absurd in speeches 
designed to win votes from other parties, are assertions 
that an opposing party wishes to ruin the country, like 
the reiterated assertion that the Cleveland Democracy 
wished to sacrifice the country to the interests of England. 

Mr. Job Hedges, Republican candidate for Governor of New 
York in 1912, made a much more successful campaign than seemed 
possible under the circumstances. His aim was to win back the 
Progressives to the Republican fold. He refrained from denuncia- 
tion of the new party, such as was common in that year, and with 
the utmost good humor dwelt much upon what Republicans and 
Progressives have in common. 

In no field is controversy likely to be more bitter than in the 
religious, yet nowhere is there better opportunity for getting on 



264 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

common ground. A Methodist addressing Methodists, though his 
audience contains representatives of all the dozens of sects under 
that general name, has a wide field of common interests, aims and 
doctrines to select from. No matter how far he may be from his 
brethren on the point at issue, he knows that they agree on a gen- 
eral system' of doctrine and church polity, and that he can appeal 
confidently to John Wesley as an accepted authority. If he ad- 
dresses an audience composed of representatives of all Protestant 
churches, he still knows his ground, by what common aims, beliefs 
and history they are bound together, and that most will respect the 
name of Luther. If he seeks to win both Catholic and Protestant, 
he still has the advantage of a large common ground and he can 
depend upon a common allegiance to one Founder. And likewise 
Jew and Gentile have a common foundation in the Old Testament. 

Finding common ground is helpful, not only in securing 
harmony between speaker and audience, but also, as the 
preceding example suggests, in securing harmony among 
the factions of the audience itself. There are times when 
the common ground is too evident to need development ; 
yet even when evident there may be wisdom in dwelling 
upon it, as when Webster in his Reply to Hayne, knowing 
that sectional feeling in his audience and in the country 
was running high, paused to say, ' ' Let me recur to pleas- 
ing recollections; let me indulge in refreshing remem- 
brances of the past,'' and went on to remind his audience 
of the Revolutionary days when Massachusetts and South 
Carolina fought shoulder to shoulder. In any case it is 
wise for the speaker to think out the boundaries of the 
common ground in order that he may make no false as- 
sumptions. 

The usefulness of the common ground is not limited, 
though it is most conspicuous, to cases where antagonism 
exists. Beecher has put the case well.^ He tells how as 
a boy he never hit anything with his gun until his father 
showed him how to take careful aim. When he became a 

1 Yale Lectures on Preaching^ p. 11. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 265 

preacher he failed for two years to get results with his 
sermons. Then he reviewed all the sermons of the 
apostles : 

''And I studied the sermons until I got this idea: 
That the apostles were accustomed first to feel for a 
ground on w^hich the people and they stood together; a 
common ground where they could meet. Then they 
heaped up a large number of the particulars of knowl- 
edge that belonged to everybody ; and when they got that 
knowledge, which everybody would admit, placed in a 
proper form before their minds, then they brought it to 
bear upon them with all their excited heart and feeling. 
That was the first definite idea of taking aim that I had 
in my mind. 

" 'Now/ said I, 'I will make a sermon so.' . . . First 
I sketched out the things we all know. . . . And in that 
way I went on with my 'You all knows,' until I had 
about forty of them. When I got through with that, I 
turned round and brought it to bear upon them with all 
my might ; and there were seventeen men awakened under 
that sermon. I never felt so triumphant in my life. I 
cried all the way home. I said to myself: ^Now I 
know how to preach. ' " 

Explanations. In order to delimit the common ground 
and determine how much is agreed upon and also what are 
the real points at issue, it is often necessary to clear the 
ground by certain explanations. The audience may be 
opposed simply because they do not understand. Again, 
the speaker's proposal may have been purposely 
misrepresented; as when it was asserted by opponents 
of Mr. Roosevelt in 1912 that his plan for the 
"review of judicial decisions" involved the determin- 
ing of litigation between individuals by the public. 
Racial or religious prejudice may have been awakened. 
A political boss attacked for corruption may have ap- 
pealed to some hoary sectional animosity, or proclaimed 



266 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

that popular government and the Constitution are in 
peril. 

To clear the ground there is no better way, in many 
cases, than to state the origin and history of the question, 
thus showing why it has come before us and just what 
its implications are. The proposition that the United, 
States has no right to let American ships pass through 
its own Panama Canal free of charge, may seem to be 
very absurd; but if a speaker who wishes to argue the 
affirmative of that proposition, puts before his hearers 
the history of the question, the series of treaties by which 
we acquired the right to build the canal at all, the ab- 
surdity will disappear, and the audience will probably 
meet the speaker on the common ground of our obliga- 
tion to abide by our treaties. Then the issue becomes 
one of the construction of treaties, which can be calmly 
discussed. 

Lincoln had unusual ability in arriving at a clear understanding 
with his audience, and this seems to have sprung from his habit of 
mind and method of preparation. 

An intimate friend of Lincoln says that his mind "ran back be- 
hind facts, principles, and all things, to their origin, and first 
cause. . . . Before he could form an idea of anything, before he 
would express his opinion on a subject, he must know its origin and 
history in substance and quality, in magnitude and gravity." We 
can see this trait of Lincoln's working out, at once remorselessly 
and gleefully, in the introduction to his famous Cooper Institute 
speech : 

". . . In his speech last Autumn at Columbus, Ohio, Senator 
Douglas said : 

'' 'Our fathers, when they framed the government under which 
we live, understood this question just as well, and even better, than 
we do now.' 

"I fully indorse this, and adopt it as a text for this discourse. 
I so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and an agreed starting- 
point for a discussion between the Republicans and that wing of 
the Democracy headed by Senator Douglas. It simply leaves the 
inquiry: What was the understanding those fathers had of the 
question mentioned? 

"What is the frame of government under which we live? The 
answer must be, 'The Constitution of the United States.' . . . 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 267 

*'Who were onr fathers that framed the Constitution? I sup- 
pose the 'thirty-nine' who signed the original instrument may be 
fairly called our fathers who framed that part of the present 
government. . . . 

"What is the question which, according to the text, those fathers 
understood 'just as well, and even better, than we do now'? It is 
this : Does the proper division of local from Federal authority, 
or anything in the Constitution, forbid our Federal Government 
to control as to slavery in our Federal territories? 

"Upon this, Seuato/ Douglas holds the affirmative, and Republi- 
cans the negative. This affirmative and denial form an issue. . . . 
Let us now inquire whether the 'thirty-nine,' or any of them, ever 
acted on this question ; and if they did, how they acted upon it — 
how they expressed that better understanding." 

Mr. Lincoln then shows by the votes of a majority of the "thirty- 
nine," in Congress and in other public positions, that they acted 
in a way to indicate that they understood the Constitution as the 
Republicans, not as Douglas, interpreted it. 

As an example of a speaker laboring to set himself right before 
an audience to whom his attitude has been misrepresented, see the 
introduction to Lincoln's first speech in his debate with Douglas at 
Alton. Douglas had taken advantage of the fact that the audience 
was largely pro-slavery in its sympathies, to present Lincoln as 
an advocate of the complete political and social equality of negroes 
with the whites. 

Definition of terms. It is common experience that argu- 
ments often turn on misunderstandings ; that when each 
party to an agreement learns what the real contention of 
the other is, often the argument is over. If, instead of 
starting an argument with a man who denounces religion 
and churches, you quietly draw him out, you will find 
in nine cases out of ten that he is objecting to certain 
practices of certain churches, or to the actions of certain 
hypocritical church members, and as a matter of fact be- 
lieves in religion and churches too. But even if defini- 
tion of terms does not remove the issues, or even reduce 
their number, it at least enables us to know what they 
are. You will notice how Lincoln's definition of '^our 
fathers," just quoted, changes Douglas's statement from 
a safely vague assertion to a dangerously specific prop- 
osition. 



268 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

In defining terms the dictionary is useful, but by no means all- 
sufiicient, as is illustrated by Professor Baker with the proposition, 
"Should American colleges substitute a more open style of play for 
the present close formation?" Definition is a problem which be- 
longs rather in the works upon exposition. A helpful discussion 
will be found in Baker's Principles of Argumentation, pp. 20-42. 
From the standpoint of persuasion, the main point is that there 
should be a common understanding for the sake of avoiding needless 
contention. It may be added that it is unwise for a speaker to try 
to fix in the minds of his audience an unusual meaning for familiar 
terms, unless this is necessary ; for their preconceptions are apt to 
rule : and further, that one of the best ways of clearing up the 
meanings of terms is by stating the origin and history of the ques- 
tion. 

Concessions. In the early days of the European war, 
when the Germans were sweeping the French back to- 
wards Paris, I heard an argument on the comparative 
merits of the French and Germans as fighters. The argu- 
ment promised to grow heated ; but when it was discov- 
ered that one party was talking of generalship and the 
other of the fighting qualities of private soldiers, the argu- 
ment, and not the arguers, ^^blew up." This was partly 
a matter of definition, but also involved mutual conces- 
sions. Perhaps the most unpopular man I know is one 
who never concedes anything in an argument. To the 
simplest claim, he demurs; to an assertion of the most 
evident fact, he retorts, ^^That is your opinion." No 
means of finding common ground, removing distrust and 
establishing good feeling, is more important than making 
concessions. Concessions provoke concessions. If you 
will be generous in admitting that I am in part right, I 
shall be ashamed to deal otherwise with you. If you are 
going to take your stand against woman 's suffrage on the 
ground that the majority of women do not desire the 
ballot, do not antagonize your hearers by refusing to 
admit that women are capable of voting. The advocates 
of woman ^s suffrage are most effective when they admit 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 269 

that woman's place is in the home, and argue that 
she needs the ballot to protect her home. What one 
cannot consciously admit, he may ignore, or admit ^^for 
the sake of argument"; or he may say of it, ^^I will not 
contest that/' 

By conceding, one escapes the discredit of a refutation 
of unjustifiable claims. If you concede woman's capacity 
for intelligent voting, you escape a vigorous onslaught 
which might discredit you with' some audiences, and 
also distract attention from your main argument. 

In his defense of Father Damien, Stevenson says : 

*'Damien has been too much depicted with a conventional halo. 
... It is the least defect of such a method of portraiture that it 
makes the path easy for the devil's advocate, and leaves for the 
misuse of the slanderer a considerable field of truth. For the truth 
that is suppressed by friends is the readiest weapon of the enemy." 

The real issues. When the common ground is well 
marked out, definitions and explanations made, conces- 
sion carried as far as is wise, and immaterial matter 
eliminated, then the real matter in dispute, if there is 
anything left, should be evident; and it should then be 
possible to discuss this with good feeling. To make the 
issue or issues the more evident, it is well usually, in any 
but the simplest argument, to state carefully what the 
speaker maintains and what he understands the opposi- 
tion to maintain. 

All this preliminary work should be done with manifest 
fairness. If you have given an untrue history, distorting 
or omitting important points, if your definitions are 
warped, or your proposal or the issues are not fairly set 
forth, you will be exposed to the charge of trickery, 
and will deserve the discredit of exposure. Even the man 
who will concede nothing, who is plainly bigoted and 
prejudiced, will make a better impression than one who 
under pretense of fairness attempts to deceive his audi- 



270 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

ence. The best opinion is that, even on the ground of 
expediency, when one is striving to win over the un- 
convinced, even honest partizanship should be excluded 
from the introduction of an argument. Much emphasis 
has been placed by Lincoln's contemporaries upon the ex- 
treme fairness with which he would state the facts and 
present the issues of a law suit, frequently alarming his 
client by the way in which we would ^^give away his 
case.'' 

Any good text on argumentation will give a more complete and 
technical treatment of methods of analysis of questions for the pur- 
pose of finding issues, a problem treated here only from the stand- 
point of persuasion. The second chapter in Baker's Principles of 
Argumentation and the second chapter in Foster's Argumentation 
and Debating are recommended. 

Order of argument. A speaker will usually have at his 
command several arguments, all sound and legitimate, 
but some stronger than others. The order in which these 
should be placed may be determined by the demands of 
logic or intelligibility ; but not infrequently the arrange- 
ment is adjustable. In such a case, so far as pure reason 
is concerned, each argument will have its full force re- 
gardless of position ; but from the standpoint of persua- 
sion, of adaptation to a given audience, order may be im- 
portant. Frequently the order of climax is best ; it usu- 
ally is if the audience is not strongly in opposition. But 
with a prejudiced audience it may be necessary to present 
the strongest possible argument first, in order to get any 
hearing at all. After a breach in the walls of prejudice 
has been made by the artillery, the infantry can pass 
through. To begin with the weaker argument may give 
the impression that the whole case is weak. On the other 
hand, anticlimax is to be avoided. Baker suggests that 
it is sometimes best to place the weaker arguments in the 



PERS JASION AND BELIEF 271 

middle of a speech. It may be suggested further that 
when the strongest argument has been used first, one may 
return to it at the end, or summarize all in the order of 
climax. One should not, of course, use arguments that 
are absolutely weak, even though sound ; that is, weak to 
the degree that they weaken the case in the minds of the 
audience or give an opponent an opportunity for telling 
refutation. 

Whether one should begin with general principles and 
proceed to arguments based upon particular facts, and 
whether one should state in the beginning what he intends 
to prove, are typical problems of persuasive argument, 
to be solved largely with reference to the attitude of the 
audience. Are the principles likely to be rejected if 
presented at once? Is the proposal too startling or too 
antagonistic ? If the audience is not likely to be thrown 
into opposition there are advantages in setting forth 
at once what one proposes to establish and upon what 
principles one rests ; for this enables the audience to see 
the bearing of each argument as it is brought forward. 
But where hostility might be awakened by this method, 
there is an advantage in beginning with a narrative or 
description of conditions, or whatever will create a mood 
more favorable to the proposal. One who has to propose 
a measure rather socialistic in nature as a remedy for 
some social malady, might dwell first on the malady itself 
with a view to creating a strong desire for some remedy. 
He might then eliminate other proposed remedies, leav- 
ing the one he believes in. If one wishes to secure sub- 
scriptions from hard-headed business men for a plan 
to provide cheap homes for the poor, he might well begin 
with a demonstration of the sound business aspect of the 
scheme, showing that it will pay five per cent, on the 
money invested, before pressing home his plea. 



272 PUBLIC SPEAKINv> 

If you wish to bring a rigidly orthodox congregation to tolerate 
the "higher criticism" of the Bible, do not begin with that term, 
which has to them a sinister sound. Begin, on common ground, 
with the great value of the Bible, its place in history and religion ; 
tell how men give their lives to its study, emphasize the fact that 
all truth about such a book is important, the natural desire to know 
how and through what agencies the Bible has come to us ; and 
awaken curiosity in some of the problems of authorship, taking up 
first evidence which confirms some traditional belief. Without 
knowing it, the congregation becomes interested in the higher criti- 
cism and realizes that the studies which go by that hated name may 
be reverent. 

One must not dogmatize here; for ^^many men have 
many minds/' and also many feelings. Much depends 
upon the audience and upon the authority and manner 
of the speaker ; and also upon his precise aims. 

Wendell Phillips began his famous eulogy of Toussaint L'Ouver- 
ture by declaring, "I attempt the quixotic effort to convince you 
that the negro blood, instead of standing at the bottom of the list, 
is entitled, if judged by its courage, its purpose, or its endurance, 
to a place as near ours as any other blood known in history." We 
may like the boldness of this ; but I cannot agree with those who 
think that was a good way to begin, if he really hoped to win assent 
to his proposition that negro blood is the equal of the blood of the 
French, Italian, Roman, or Greek. I do not believe that Phillips 
expected any such triumph over race pride. He wanted to stir up 
interest and set people thinking. 

In choosing our opening argument we should remember 
the tendency of men to believe what they wish to believe. 
We may find it best sometimes to appeal first to the 
strongest possible motive, to set forth the benefits to be 
derived from our plan before attempting to prove that 
the benefits will follow, or that the plan is feasible. If 
you convince a student audience that a proposed coaching 
system will bring athletic supremacy, you will not have so 
hard a time in convincing them that the money required 
can be raised. You may present to a dissolute man the 
happiness his reform would bring his family so vividly 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 273 

that he will give eager ear to your argument that 
reform for him is possible. Given the vision, creating de- 
sire, belief in possibility will follow. 

Rate of progress. To proceed too rapidly with your 
audience militates against both persuasion and conviction. 
There must be time for attention to dwell upon the ideas. 
In general, we may assume that country audiences think 
less rapidly, though more surely, than audiences of equal 
education, drawn from the rush of city streets, where 
quick thinking is a necessity of existence. The city 
audience is quick in its appreciation and applause; but 
it may follow too readily, and not considering carefully 
enough, may receive but a shallow impression which is 
quickly lost for another. With almost any audience it 
is best to proceed slowly, present but one principal idea 
and impress that deeply. 

If your audience is made up of trained thinkers, accus- 
tomed to dealing with new ideas and to sustaining long 
lines of thought, and especially if trained in the field of 
your subject, progress may be more rapid. There is even 
danger of tantalizing them with too slow progress. How- 
ever, young speakers are far more likely to proceed too 
fast than too slow; or, rather, they do not discriminate 
clearly enough what may be passed rapidly because it is 
familiar, accepted, easy of comprehension, or less im- 
portant, from what should be dwelt upon because strange, 
difficult, or of first-class importance. 

Fixed opinions, principles and sentiments. We must 
take into account those established principles of belief and 
action which, springing from heredity, temperament and 
early training rather than from reason, men rarely 
change. Such are our beliefs in regard to the position of 
women, the rights of private property, our American con- 
viction that for a city or a university to grow rapidly 



274 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

is a grand thing, our objection to ^^ entangling alli- 
ances. ' ' 

The truth is somewhat overstated in the following ex- 
cerpt from Le Bon.^ 

''It must not be supposed that merely because the 
justness of an idea has been proved it can be productive 
of effective action, even on cultivated minds. . . . Evi- 
dence, if it be very plain, may be accepted by an edu- 
cated person, but the convert will be quickly brought 
back by his unconscious self to his original conceptions. 
See him again after the lapse of a few days and he will 
put forward his old arguments in exactly the same terms. 
He is in reality under the influence of anterior ideas that 
have become sentiments, and it is such ideas alone that 
influence the recondite motives of our acts and utter- 
ances. It cannot be otherwise in the case of crowds 
which are more under the influence of general ideas than 
individuals. ... A long time is necessary for ideas to 
establish themselves in the minds of crowds, but just a^ 
long a time is necessary for them to be eradicated. ' ' 

A limitation is placed on the preceding by this from the 
same work : ^ 

''The opinions and beliefs of crowds may be divided, 
then into two very distinct classes. On the one hand 
we have great permanent beliefs, which endure for sev- 
eral centuries, and on which an entire civilization may 
rest; [for example, feudalism], . . . In the second place, 
there are the transitory, changing opinions, ... as su- 
perficial, as a rule, as fashion, and as changeable. . . : 
It is easy to imbue the minds of crowds with a passing 
opinion, but very difficult to implant therein a lasting 
belief. . . . Even revolutions avail only when the belief 
has almost entirely lost its sway over men's minds. . . . 
The beginning of a revolution is in reality the end of a 
belief." 

1 The Crowd, p. 52. 2 idem, p. 148. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 275 

Frequently men do not know why they hold these 
permanent beliefs ; indeed, they may hardly be conscious 
that they do hold them, having never formulated but 
merely assumed them. Sometimes they will not, some- 
times they cannot reason about them. It is a mistake 
to suppose that men necessarily hold most firmly their 
reasoned beliefs. In the first place, the reasoner realizes 
that another opinion is possible; while one who takes 
his opinions from his environment and early teaching 
holds them as the only intelligent views. ^'Everybody 
knows that," he says. In the second place, a reasoned 
belief is rarely so imbedded in habit of thought and in 
emotional association as the accepted belief, though it 
may so grow into one's system of thought that change 
is well-nigh impossible. And this is true of educated men 
as well as of others. 

To a man trained in the older school of thought great must have 
been the effort necessary fifty years ago to readjust his thinking to 
the theory of evolution. And if to-day the doctrine of evolution 
were to be overturned by convincing proofs, we should see many men 
of scientific training protesting violently that the thing is unthink- 
able, — which for them would be literally true. They would make 
over again the discredited arguments and declare they could not and 
would not believe the new theory. 

It is folly, evidently enough, to try to change a fixed 
belief in a single speech ; unless it has already been much 
weakened. The Monroe Doctrine is an example of a 
belief which it has been useless to question before the 
American people until recent years; but to-day, before 
many audiences, the doctrine is debatable. It would be 
folly to think to change the belief of the average Ameri- 
can audience in the republican form of government, or the 
belief of Roman Catholics in the religious authority of the 
Pope. It is particularly foolish to attempt to change 



276 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

quickly beliefs that are due largely to native tendencies. 
In arguing such a question as direct primaries, for ex- 
ample, we need to consider whether the majority of our 
audience are of aristocratic or of democratic tendencies. 

The case is somewhat different when one addresses the 
same people in a series of speeches covering a considerable 
time, as does the preacher. But for the most part a 
speaker must take the fixed opinions and sentiments of 
his hearers as he finds them, and utilize them or ignore 
them. If Boston feels, as Oliver Wendell Holmes tells 
us, that, '^Boston is the hub of the solar system. You 
could not pry that out of a Boston man if you had the 
tire of all creation straightened out for a crowbar, ' ' why, 
then, when you are talking to Boston, admit it or keep 
off the subject. After all, men of widely differing prem- 
ises can work together in harmony. Booker T. Washing- 
ton and many of his white neighbors could agree on the 
advisability of industrial education for negroes; but if 
Mr. Washington had not thoroughly understood his white 
friends and if he had emphasized the rights which he no 
doubt believed were his, he could never have won their 
support. If you are to argue for or against the Monroe 
Doctrine with men who have the fixed opinion that our 
international relations are to be determined on the basis 
of pure self-interest, then there is no use in arguing the 
good of South America ; you should base your argument 
upon the interests of the United States. Perhaps you 
can reach your altruistic argument by showing that the 
good of the United States demands the good of South 
America. 

Identifying beliefs. To convince or to persuade a man 
is largely a matter of identifying the opinion or course of 
action which you wish him to adopt with one or more of 
his fixed opinions or customary courses of action. When 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 277 

his mind is satisfied of the identity, then doubts vanish, 
and his mind rests upon your proposal with equanimity. 
Speaking of arriving at a reasoned decision after a strug- 
gle with the alternatives, James says : ^ 

* * The conclusive reason for the decision in these cases 
usually is the discovery that we can refer the case to a 
class upon which we are accustomed to act unhesitatingly 
in a certain stereotyped way. It may be said in general 
that a great part of every deliberation consists in the 
turning over of all the possible modes of conceiving of 
the doing or not doing of the act in point. The moment 
we hit upon a conception which lets us apply some prin- 
ciple of action which is a fixed and stable part of our 
Ego, our state of doubt is at an end. Persons of author- 
ity, who have to make many decisions in a day, carry 
with them a set of heads of classification, each bearing 
its volitional consequence, and under these they seek as 
far as possible to arrange each new emergency as it oc- 
curs. It is where the species is without precedent, to 
which consequently no cut and dried maxim will apply, 
that we feel at a loss, and are distressed at the indetermi- 
nateness of our task. As soon, however, as we see our 
way to a familiar classification, we are at ease again. 
In action as in reasoning, then, the great thing is the 
quest of the right conception,^ ^ 

When a manager discharges an employee, his process may be like 
this: Jones is careless in his work. I discharge men who are 
careless; therefore, I will discharge Jones. That is, when Jones 
comes under the classification, Careless men, the decision to dis- 
charge is almost automatic ; unless Jones chances to come under some 
other classification, such as men whose family would suffer, or men 
whom the president favors. 

Plainly, then, in convincing and persuading, the 
speaker should seek to show that the belief or action urged 
is in accord with some conception or ^^ principle of action 
which is a fixed and stable part of our [hearer's] Ego"; 

1 Briefer Course^ p. 430. 



278 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

or more nearly in accord with such a principle than is the 
contrary course. When one convinces a Democrat that 
the measure urged is in line with Democratic practice, 
or the opponents of militarism that military drill in the 
universities is one means of making it safe to get on with 
a small standing army, one is carrying out the suggestion 
of the above paragraph. A syllogism is only a formal 
way of putting an identification. 

The following from Bain is directly in point and worth pon- 
dering : 1 

"Persuasion implies that some course of conduct shall be so 
described, or expressed, as to coincide, or be identified, with the 
active impulses of the persons addressed, and thereby command 
their adoption of it by the force of their own natural dispositions. 
A leader of banditti has to deal with a class of persons whose 
ruling impulse is plunder ; and it becomes his business to show 
that any scheme of his proposing will lead to this end. A people 
with an intense, overpowering patriotism, as the old Romans, can 
be acted upon by proving that the interests of the country are at 
stake. The fertile oratorical mind is one that can identify a case 
in hand with a great number of the strongest beliefs of an audi- 
ence ; and more especially with those that seem, at first sight, to 
have no connection with the point to be carried. The discovery of 
identity in diversity is never more called for, than in attempts to 
move men to adopt some unwonted course of proceeding. V^^hen 
a new reform is introduced in the state, it is usually thought neces- 
sary (at least in England) to reconcile and identify it in many 
ways with the venerated Constitution, or with prevailing maxims 
and modes of feeling, with which it would seem at variance. To 
be a persuasive speaker, it is necessary to have vividly present to 
the view all the leading impulses and convictions of the persons 
addressed, and to be ready to catch at every point of identity be- 
tween these and the proposition suggested for their adoption. The 
first named qualification grows out of the experience, and study of 
character ; the other is the natural force of Similarity, which has 
often been exemplified in its highest range in oratorical minds. ^ In 
the speeches of Burke, we see it working with remarkable vigor. 
Perhaps the most striking instance of this fertility of identification 
for persuasive ends is exhibited in Milton's Defense of Unlicensed 
Printing.'^ 

Questions to consider : What is the relation of the foregoing to 
what was said in earlier chapters about novelty? What would you 
say of the force of novelty in persuasion? What is the relation of 
identification to the attention theory of persuasion? 

It will be seen by the thoughtful that we are not so much putting 
forward a new principle in discussing identification, as seeking the 

1 Senses and Intellect^ p. 542. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 279 

advantage of another waj- of looking at what we have discussed 
under the head of common ground and the topics which follow. 

Conservative or radical. Nothing is more important in 
considering the tendencies of an audience with reference 
to persuasion, than their relative conservatism and radi- 
calism. Will they take kindly to new proposals, or stand 
firmly for the ''old landmarks'' ? 

It will be convenient to discuss this topic from the standpoint of 
one seeking to move his hearers from a conservative position. Any 
intelligent student should be able to adapt this discussion to the 
reverse process, and will find this an interesting study. Teachers 
may find it advantageous to base quiz and examination questions 
upon the means of checking movements that chance to be before 
the country. 

There is no intention of implying at any point that conservatism 
is unwise ; indeed, it is necessary that we should be controlled by 
conservatives, and fortunate that they are usually in the majority. 
It is also fortunate that there are others who would push on and 
dare experiments. It is the speaker's business to know what kind 
of people he is dealing with. He may be aided by certain general 
considerations. 

Conservatism characteristic of the English-speaking 
peoples. It is not the way of the so-called Anglo-Saxons 
to change their institutions in a wholesale way. We are 
told that in contrast the Latin peoples, having adopted 
a belief, wish to work it out at once into a consistent 
system. So Lavisse speaks^ of England as '^a country 
of slow continuous transformations, in which the present 
is not separated from the past by visible lines of demarca- 
tion." But in speaking of the French Eevolution, he 
says, that, '^when owing to the faults of its kings, the 
country detached itself from royalty, it raised itself 
at once to the idea of humanity." 

The change in England from an almost absolute mon- 
archy to one of the freest of governments has been 

1 Political History of Europe^ p. 141. 



280 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

brought about piecemeal and by a series of compromises. 
Very rarely do we Americans change our Constitution. 
We wait for the slow process of judicial construction. 
And when we do change we like to think we are only 
following in the path marked out by the fathers. "We 
assume that the founders of our government, who lacked 
national experience, who dealt with a situation vastly 
different from our own, and who ascribed little enough 
wisdom to each other, yet somehow had a marvelous fore- 
sight for the problems of to-day. In the Cooper Union 
speech Lincoln did not question the declaration that the 
fathers understood the slavery question better than the 
men of the '50 's, but showed that the fathers agreed with 
the Republicans rather than with the Douglas Demo- 
crats. 

A speaker must reckon with the strongly conservative 
tendency of our people. He must not expect to win favor 
for revolutionary change; and must be content in most 
cases with the half loaf. They will prefer to tinker up 
the old rather than to adopt a completely new system. 
And this was just as true in the year 1912, when nearly 
every man asserted that he was progressive and some 
trembled because of the revolutionary changes they saw 
rushing upon us, as at any time. The young speaker, 
full of enthusiasm for new cures and reforms, will do 
well to note this tendency to make haste slowly; for it 
furnishes a mighty fulcrum for his opponent. Just a 
sneer at youthful radicalism may defeat him. 

The enthusiast who disregards human nature or thinks it easily 
set on fire for new causes or new methods, may consider the follow- 
ing from a speech by Liberty Hyde Bailey, delivered while he was 
Director of the New York State College of Agriculture, and he 
should remember that the attitude ascribed to the farmer is that 
of the majority of our solid followers of routine ; that is, of the ma- 
jority of men : 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 281 

"The farmer comes in contact with things that do not change 
very easily. I once asked a farmer why he did not blast out a rock. 
He said, 'It has always been there.' After a two-days' institute 
in a school house, I was interested to know how the farmers felt 
about it. whether they were confused by the multitude of matters 
presented. I chanced to overhear two men speaking. One said, 
'Well, Henry, w^hat do you think of it?' and Henry replied, *Let 
'em go it ; they can't hurt me none.' " 

Some forces against change. We have to reckon on 
certain influences in opposition to chang:e. Those whose 
incomes may suffer will oppose.^ Resistance may be ex- 
pected, also, from those who represent institutions af- 
fected by the change, whether these are railways, col- 
leges, or churches, unless the change be asked for by 
themselves. Institutions almost invariably grow con- 
servative: even a socialist party obeys the tendency. 
Those who exercise authority, from emperors and senates 
to athletic councils and committees of college faculties, 
favor change only in the direction of placing more power 
in their own hands. Desiring efficiency, and perhaps un- 
consciously desiring power, they dislike all change in the 
direction of democracy. Moreover, there is a strong 
tendency to resist changes that affect one's routine and 
habits; for change compels one to take thought. A 
manufacturer of much experience with workingmen tells 
me that they will resist changes of method which actu- 
ally lighten their labor and increase their safety. 

In the powerful speech made by Elihu Root in the New York Con- 
stitutional Convention, on August 30, 1915, in favor of the "short 
ballot," he dwelt upon the many evidences of popular demand for 
the measure, in spite of which certain office holders were sure the 
people were opposed. He continued : 

"My friend, Mr. Brackett, sees nothing wrong about [the govern- 
ment of the State]. He has been fifteen years in the Senate. . . . 
Why should he see anything wrong? My friend, Mr. Greene, is 
comfortably settled in the Excise Department, and he sees nothing 
wrong. 

"There never was a reform in administration in this world which 

1 See, below, the quotation from Bryce, under "Respect for Audi- 
ences." 



282 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

did not have to make its way against the strong feeling of good, 
honest men, concerned in existing methods of administration, and 
who saw nothing wrong. It is no impeachment of a man's hon- 
esty, his integrity, that he thinks the methods that he is familiar 
with and in which he is engaged, are all right. But you cannot 
make any improvement in this world without overriding the satis- 
faction that men have in things as they are, and of which they are 
a contented and successful part." 

Crowds are conservative. We here take the term 
crowds broadly, not limiting it merely to bodies of people 
together at one spot, but including homogeneous com- 
munities, states, or peoples. This is the sense in which 
Le Bon uses the word. We are prepared by what he 
says of the slowness of crowds in receiving new ideas, 
for this statement.^ 

'^It is difficult to understand history, and popular 
revolutions in particular, if one does not take into ac- 
count the profoundly conservative instincts of crowds. 
They may be desirous, it is true, of changing the names 
of their institutions, . . . but the essence of these insti- 
tutions is too much the expression of the hereditary needs 
of the race for them not invariably to abide by it." 

Such groups as student bodies are conservative. There 
is a ^Wast inertia" in the mass of men who make up the 
electorate of a state. They must always be behind the 
thinkers of the age. A leader, we have been told by 
George William Curtis, '^must not be too far ahead of 
his age ; but up with his age and ahead of it only just so 
far as to be able to lead its march. " It is a truism, well 
expressed in Lowell's Present Crisis , that humanity has 
often crucified and burned those too far in the lead, and 
then has built monuments to them when the race has 
caught up. 

But we should not overlook the fact that the masses 
do move forward, and that it may be splendidly worth 

1 The Crowd, p. 42. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 283 

while to take a position far in advance ; or, dropping the 
figure, to work for changes that may be expected only 
in the distant future. The fact that the mass of men 
change but slowly makes prolonged agitation necessary. 
Wendell Phillips spoke out of experience when he said 
in his Phi Beta Kappa address : 

''As Emerson says, 'What the tender and poetic youth 
dreams to-day, and conjures up in inarticulate speech, 
is to-morrow the vociferated result of public opinion, 
and the day after is the charter of nations.' Lieber said, 
in 1870, 'Bismarck proclaims to-day in the Diet the very 
principles for which we were hunted and exiled fifty years 
ago.' Submit to risk your daily bread, expect social 
ostracism, count on a mob now and then, 'be in earnest, 
don't equivocate, don't excuse, don't retreat a single 
inch,' and you will finally be heard. No matter how 
long and weary the waiting, at last, — 

" 'Ever the truth comes uppermost, 
And ever is justice done. 
For humanity sweeps onward : 

Where to-day the martyr stands, 
On the morrow crouches Judas 
With the silver in his hands.' " 

Not all attempts at reform arouse mob violence, but all 
do provoke some degree of resistance and resentment. 
The main point for us here is that a very great degree of 
change cannot be hoped for at once, that radical change 
demands a campaign, which may require months and may 
run into many years. After the campaign for civil serv- 
ice reform had been on for twenty years, a stump speaker 
could safely refer to it as "snivel service reform." 
Woman's suffrage was an organized movement in the first 
half of the last century, and prohibition in the seventies ; 
yet until within five years in most parts of the country 
they have been freely ridiculed. Many a reform must 
wait for a new generation to arise. 



284 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Further considerations in judging conservatism. The 
speaker may well ask himself, Is this audience accus- 
tomed to considering new ideas, and therefore less dis- 
trustful of them, simply because they are new ? Are my 
hearers property owners, with established businesses, and 
therefore interested in preserving the status quo? Is 
my audience composed of elderly people, who have lived 
long enough to see many panaceas fail, and have, there- 
fore, grown weary of new proposals ? It would be rash, 
however, to suppose that all old men are conservative and 
all young men radical. A young conservative is fiercer 
in his fighting for the old way than an old conservative, 
who is less alarmed about the probability of change. 
But no doubt, in general, age increases hesitancy to take 
up new ideas and ways, and decreases ability to do so. 

An economist of reputation, about forty years of age, tells me that 
as a student he was strongly conservative, but finds himself growing 
more radical every year. He declares that economists as a group 
are radical. He quotes a distinguished economist past middle life 
who declares he is growing radical year by year, but finds historians 
still more radical. These men, students of the past as well as of the 
present, realize that history is not static, but a process of change 
and evolution. They are not like a freshman who, finding a custom, 
established last year, in vogue in his college, thinks it a hoary tradi- 
tion. They realize well that the impossibilities of fifty years ago are 
the commonplaces of to-day, and they are not unduly awed by the 
wisdom of the past. Their minds are therefore open to proposed 
improvements, though they demand good evidence. One such man 
has described himself as a ^'conservative radical." Lawyers and 
ecclesiastics, on the contrary, trained to accept the authority of the 
past, are likely to be conservative. The principles illustrated in this 
paragraph should prove suggestive to the speaker in "sizing up" a 
situation. 

The newer parts of the country may be expected, in 
general, to be less influenced by conventional ideas, cus- 
toms and precedents. In New England and in the South 
are more of those influential families whose pride is in 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 285 

the past and who hold that the fact that things have been 
so is an excellent reason why they should remain so. 

A magazine story describes a mental state that cannot safely be 
ignored in many quiet old towns, where the innovator will be 
calmly pushed aside : Miss Winifred Atwood's bird bath, an artistic 
antique bit of Florentine marble, stands on the edge of the new golf 
links, and in danger. But 

"before the golf club was started there was no need of a fence be- 
tween their house and that portion rented from them. Afterward 
no fence was erected, because there had never been a fence there — 
w^hich is always an unanswerable argument in our town." 

And it will be found just as unanswerable in opposition to fences 
proposed against moral or other dangers in that town. 

But one must not reckon too much on sectional charac- 
teristics, except with reference to particular questions. 
While the West seems to be particularly friendly to po- 
litical innovations, it is far more orthodox in religion 
than New England. Much depends in any section, also, 
upon the quality of its leadership. New Jersey under 
the leadership of Governor Wilson seemed a very differ- 
ent State from the New Jersey of two years before. 

Conservative or radical concerning the particular prop- 
osition ? Men may be conservative toward some proposi- 
tions and liberal toward others. Is your audience well 
accustomed to hearing discussions of municipal reform, 
or will your plan for a stringent building code seem a 
startling innovation? Are commission government and 
short ballots quite foreign to their experience, or are 
these systems in force in neighboring communities ? Are 
you to address a body of reformers, or a body composed 
of those inclined to think the effect of a measure upon 
profits more important than its effect upon tenement 
dwellers? Are you arguing for strict enforcement of 
liquor laws before a body whose creed is, ''Business is 
business," and are fearful that a ''dry" town means a 
falling off in trade? Is the body before whom you are 



286 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

urging a county tuberculosis hospital composed chiefly 
of tax-payers? If so, what motive is stronger with them 
than low taxes? Are you discussing a labor problem 
before socialists or men who, like most business men and 
farmers, resent interference with the individual 's conduct 
of his own affairs ? Are you discussing the Indian ques- 
tion before Eastern people who are impressed with the 
wrongs of the ^' noble red man/' or before Western peo- 
ple who incline to the view that ^^the only good Indian is 
a dead Indian"? Are you trying to secure acceptance 
for the results of modern Biblical criticism from an audi- 
ence hostile to the ^^ higher criticism," or from one that 
likes to think itself advanced ? 

Overcoming conservatism. Since men are often re- 
pelled by new ideas simply because they are new, and 
may even have a fear of unfamiliar courses,^ we do well 
to emphasize the familiar rather than the unfamiliar as- 
pect of our proposal. It should be described in familiar 
terms, illustrated with familiar experiences, identified 
with familiar actions and ideas, and supported by famil- 
iar authorities and proverbs. Stress should be laid upon 
the common ground. Since men are much under the in- 
fluence of names, conventions and forms of institutions, 
we should not ask for changes in these beyond what is 
necessary. Augustus changed the government of Rome 
into a monarchy, but preserved so far as possible the 
forms of the old Republic. The same officials and official 
bodies remained, but with different powers. So long as 
the Senate met and styles in togas were unchanged, there 
were many unable to see how the liberties of Rome were 
passing. Very important, also, in overcoming reluc- 
tance to change, is giving one's hearers a vivid imagina- 
tive conception of the methods and situation one proposes 

1 Cf. McDougall, Social Psychology ^ p. 54. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 287 

to bring about ; for this aids in removing the feeling of 
unfamiliarity. 

We have already noted the truth that we should not 
expect men to change their opinions rapidly. We must 
give time and opportunity to grow accustomed to a new 
proposition, for the natural distrust to wear away and 
for the ideas to be assimilated. Benjamin Franklin, a 
master molder of public opinion, used to begin, not by 
calling a meeting of the citizens of Philadelphia and ask- 
ing them to accept his proposal at once, but by accustom- 
ing the public mind to his plans by prolonged newspaper 
discussion before calling his meeting. Making ideas 
familiar by repetition is highly important to the art of 
'^publicity." Advertisers have a maxim, ^'Repetition 
is reputation." And, as Mr. Dooley says, ''I '11 belave 
anything at all, if you 11 only tell it to me often 
enough." 

It is sometimes wise to begin with mild suggestions and 
gradually develop them ; again, one may do better to set 
forth the proposal in its most startling form, and then, 
when excited opposition has grown up, to relieve anxiety 
by showing various modifications and limitations which 
make the proposal less radical than it seemed. One 
might guess that Mr. Roosevelt is not a stranger to this 
method. It is a good way of winning attention ; but it 
may cause misunderstanding and misrepresentations, 
which, when emphasized by opponents, are hard to eradi- 
cate from the popular mind. The method may also gain 
for one the reputation of being ''unsafe." 

Which is the better salesmanship : To advertise a car for $950, 
and then add extras bringing the price for a well fitted car up to 
$1200 ; or to fix the price at $1400 and then show how this might be 
cut down to $1200 by omitting certain features? Which is the bet- 
ter politics : To demand a sweeping tariff reduction and accept 
a moderate measure ; or to ask for a little and work for more when 



288 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

the public is accustomed to the idea ; or to demand precisely what 
you want and stand by the demand? 

The power of facts. We should never forget, in this 
connection or any other, the power of plain facts. One 
hard fact, so presented that it is seen to be important, 
may outweigh all logic and all rhetoric. The facts should 
be so presented that they do not unnecessarily antagonize 
by convicting the audience of ignorance. The facts may 
show that the situation upon which the audience has 
based its opinion has radically changed ; as when one, in 
arguing for restriction of immigration, shows that the 
character of our immigration has changed. Or a new 
statement of familiar facts may, by its imposing array, 
break down opposition. So the advocate of '^ votes for 
women" places before her opposing sisters instance after 
instance of the unfairness of man made laws. 

Speakers are tempted to present doubtful facts, or 
facts which only the most partizan mind can accept; as 
when a prohibition speaker attempts to declare pre- 
cisely how many children have died and how many men 
have become criminals because of strong drink. Such 
statements may deceive the uncritical, but not the 
thoughtful. The power of facts to overcome doubt, op- 
position and conservatism rests upon their acceptance as 
beyond question. 

Precedent. The conservatives are much influenced by 
the fact that the same thing, or nearly the same thing, 
has been done before, that what may have seemed a 
radical change is after all proved by experience. To 
most Americans the proposition that our courts should 
be deprived of the power to declare legislation unconsti- 
tutional is startling; but at least a hearing can be won 
by pointing out that in most of the countries of the 
world, this power is not given to the courts. Where you 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF • 289 

will find one to welcome a plan because it is untried, and 
therefore an attractive venture, you will find twenty, and 
those twenty of the influential, ''safe and sane," mem- 
bers of the audience, who are uneasy and inattentive until 
they learn that the method has been in successful opera- 
tion in some community. The character of that commu- 
nity counts for much. If it is similar to our own, as 
another American state of equal rank, the precedent vdll 
be effective. The average man is much less influenced 
by the fact that New Zealand has an old age pension 
system than that England and Germany have such sys- 
tems. Prestige counts. The thoughtful man will also de- 
mand that conditions in any community cited as a prec- 
edent be similar to those in his own community, as af- 
fecting the matter in hand. 

It is most effective to show that we ourselves have been 
doing all the time practically what is proposed, or did 
so at one time. The advocates of the ''popular review 
of judicial decisions, ' ' tried to relieve the burden of radi- 
cal change by arguing that this is only another way 
of amending constitutions. Socialistic propaganda is 
much aided, and the term socialism is gradually be- 
ing relieved of its opprobrium, as we come to realize 
that our schools, post-offices and hospitals are socialistic. 
Municipal ownership of street railways is not so shock- 
ing when we consider our city-owned water and lighting 
systems; and we view government regulation of corpo- 
rate industries with less alarm as we think of the work 
of the Interstate Commerce Commission. 

Precedent may be connected with the motive of emu- 
lation, when we recite how another person, town or coun- 
try is in advance of us. A suffrage advocate declares: 
"We are behind Norway, Sweden, Austria, China, Ice- 
land. In fact, women in every other country of the 



290 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

globe have more political power than do those of our 
own Empire State." One feels that this is a very im- 
portant statement, very humiliating, if true. 

This reminds us that citing precedent is a method of 
argument much open to rebuttal, not only on the ground 
of failure to show similarity of conditions, but of failure 
to state true facts. Even the honest speaker is pecul- 
iarly tempted to misstate facts in such sweeping generali- 
zations as that just quoted. The dishonest speaker finds 
precedent an effective means of deception. Just as pro- 
moters of dubious companies tell glowing stories of the 
great profits of similar companies and of gold mines 
right beside the promoters' properties; so one argu- 
ing for a minimum wage law cites the examples of Aus- 
tralia and England. But an opponent points out that 
industrial conditions in those countries make the prece- 
dents invalid, or that the law advocated differs materially 
from those cited. It is worth the while of any speaker to 
study the methods of refuting the fallacies arising from 
precedent and analogy, and these will be found well 
treated in texts on argumentation. 

Precedent, prestige and authority may operate as suggestions 
which influence us without deliberation on our part. I am speak- 
ing of them here as they are consciously taken into account ; e.g., 
Germany, a country which has carried governmental eflSciency to a 
high point, has adopted old age pensions ; therefore the system is 
worthy consideration. 

The sudden growth of prohibition sentiment in the last five years 
would make an interesting study in persuasion. I believe it would 
be found that these elements have been important : First, the im- 
pression made upon children in the schools by the teaching of the 
evils of alcohol, — children who are now coming into power ; second, 
the establishing of certain scientific facts in regard to drink ; and 
third, action on the part of great corporations with regard to the 
habits of their employees, and the measures of European govern- 
toents since the war began. With every gain in "dry" territory in 
the United States, also, the average man, who not long ago laughed 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 291 

at the movement and perhaps drinks a bit himself, grows more im- 
pressed and more ready to give the matter serious attention. That 
is, we have to consider the element of time, of facts, and of prestige. 

Authority. In our conservative phase, we are much 
relieved by learning that a given proposal has the in- 
dorsement of those whom we respect as authorities. 
Who is there among us who does not accept some book or 
some man, father, teacher, preacher or specialist, as au- 
thority almost beyond question, if not upon all subjects, 
at least upon some? Most of our opinions are based 
upon little else than authority, though we may have for- 
gotten what authority. Men will have authority in one 
form or another. Those of scientific habit of thought 
are less under the influence of authority than others; 
but no man can ''prove all things." Many things we 
must accept from those whose business it is to know. 
Many of our facts we must receive and give out on 
authority. AYe should be chary of accepting mere 
opinions, but must in practice accept them at times ; and 
we often have to accept conclusions which are com- 
pounded of observed facts and skilful deduction, as 
when a statistician works out from census statistics con- 
clusions concerning the divorce problem. 

The use of authorities is more a matter of persuasion than of 
logic ; and since authorities are rarely well used by young speakers, 
I shall treat the topic at some length. Those who wish to pursue 
the psychological phase of this subject will find discussions in Mc- 
Dougall's Social Psychology and Ross's work of the same title. 
(See their indexes under Prestige.) They treat the subject, how- 
ever, as a matter of suggestion. 

Persuasive use of authorities. The primary requisite 
is, of course, that your authority be accepted as such by 
your audience. There is some effect from the quotation 
of even an unknown man's opinion. At least one other 
man has believed as the speaker believes. If the opinion 



292 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

comes with a touch of literary style, its value is increased. 
It is told that DeWitt Talmage, whose sermons were 
printed weekly in papers throughout the country for 
many years, directed his assistants to look up each week 
two or three pat literary quotations to enforce the central 
thought of his sermon. We have an habitual deference 
toward quoted authorities, especially when they are cited 
from print. I once knew a woman who believed all she 
read in newspapers. Few more intelligent people com- 
pletely outgrow the superstitious awe of book covers. To 
be of full effect, however, and to withstand the attacks of 
opponents, your authorities should meet certain tests, 
though it will be clear that not every authority used need 
meet all the tests that follow. Too many speakers 
simply hurl a name or quotation at an audience, regard- 
less of value or of pertinence. 

1. Is your authority known to the audience? In a 
debate on woman's suffrage both sides quoted repeatedly 
from this and that person regarding Colorado's experi- 
ence ; but as the persons named were unknown to us, the 
quotations were of little effect. Paraphrasing the old 
couplet. If your authority be not authority to me, what 
care I how authoritative he be? The names of Edison 
and Burbank will go further with general audiences than 
those of many greater scientists. 

2. Is your authority known to the audience as author- 
ity on the question under argument? The opinions of 
some men will be of weight upon almost any problem. 
The unthinking will accept them without question ; while 
the thoughtful will hold that men of such poise, wisdom 
and impartiality will not be likely to utter an opinion 
except upon good ground. Yet we must recognize that 
while a justice of the Supreme Court of the United 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 293 

States is a weighty authority upon a question of law, 
upon an economic, social, or political question his judg- 
ment is not necessarily of importance. 

3. What is the emotional attitude of your audience 
toward your authority ? The fact that a man is of a cer- 
tain school of thought, or party, or church may create 
prejudice against him. In spite of his wonderful oppor- 
tunities for observation, there are audiences who would 
accept Mr. Roosevelt as authority on scarcely any ques- 
tion. 

4. Does your authority, though lacking popular repu- 
tation, hold a position which gives him authority in the 
public mind? Walter F. Willcox needs no introduction 
to some audiences as a statistician of great ability and 
rare impartiality; other audiences would accept him 
when told that he was chief statistician of the Twelfth 
Census. Some would be favorably impressed when told 
that he is Professor of Statistics in Cornell University; 
while others would reject his authority on the ground 
that all professors are mere theorists. 

5. Has your authority had exceptional advantages 
for learning the truth ? In the debate above referred to, 
some weight was attached to statements by the governors 
of states in which woman's suffrage has been tried. Is 
the physician called as an insanity expert one who has 
had exceptional experience, as in an insane asylum? 
The fact that a man is a lawyer, an engineer, an agri- 
culturist, does not make him authority on all the prob- 
lems of his profession. What special advantages has he 
had ? If you wish to quote an authority on Chinese af- 
fairs, it is worth while to state the facts which give him 
authority; e.g., ^^ President Goodenough of Johns Hop- 
kins University, who has been legal adviser to President 



294 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Yuan Shi-Kai, ' ' — a position which marks him as a man 
of recognized judgment and of exceptional opportunities 
for observation. 

There are some things the man on the field can know 
better than any student of the event; but it does not 
follow that the soldier who fought at Gettysburg, or even 
the commander of a brigade, can write a more accurate 
description than a historian born since the event. It 
is well recognized that no man can write an authoritative 
history of his own times ; he can only furnish the raw ma- 
terial which later historians can use in forming unbiased 
judgments. Still this is not true in the popular mind, 
and one should hesitate to quote, let us say, a recent his- 
torian against General Lee. If this be necessary, one 
should explain the historian's advantages. 

6. Is your authority speaking an unbiased judgment? 
If he speaks as a partizan, an advocate, or from self- 
interest or prejudice, we discount his utterance; for we 
assume that, though he may be capable and honest, he 
cannot ^'see straight," even on a matter of pure fact. 
Evidence for the side he favors looks very important to 
him, and evidence against his side seems unworthy at- 
tention. Do not quote, therefore, the opinion of a ship- 
builder on shipping subsidies, or that of either the presi- 
dent of a temperance union or the owner of a brewery on 
prohibition.^ 

When feasible, quote the words of men known as im- 
partial investigators. Often one can draw from govern- 
ment documents and other standard reports, such as the 
Report of the Industrial Commission, census reports, or. 
the Statesman's Yearbook. These works will generally 
be accepted as to facts, not necessarily as to opinions. 
There are other works that have general acceptance, such 

1 Cf. Foster, Argumentation and Dehating, p. 64. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 295 

as Bryce's American Commonwealth, which will be 
taken, not as final, but as weighty authority, containing 
the observations of a well-informed, fair-minded, keen 
and sympathetic foreign observer. 

The nature of the question at issue is important. 
Any reputable scientist or historian will be accepted as to 
established facts, but not necessarily as to disputed facts 
ajid opinions. Woodrow Wilson has written of Macaulay 
as an historian : ^ 

''Macaulay the Whig, subtly turning narrative into 
argument, and making history the vindication of a party. 
The mighty narrative is a great engine of proof. It is 
not told for its own sake. It is evidence summed up in 
order to justify a judgment. We detect the tone of the 
advocate, and though if we are just we must deem him 
honest, we cannot deem him safe. ' ' 

Very effective at times is a statement from one who 
naturally inclines to the opposition. Mr. Roosevelt be- 
gan an article in 1912 : ''The Chicago Evening Post and 
the Indianapolis Star were originally Taft^ papers. 
They believed that the voters ought to choose Mr. Taft 
over me in the primaries." He then proceeded to tell 
how these papers charged dishonesty against the Repub- 
lican National Committee in securing his defeat in the 
Republican national convention of that year. The pre- 
sumption was that these papers had made these charges 
only upon strong evidence. Reform of court procedure 
would not be much advanced by citing in its favor men 
who are continually finding fault, in a radical spirit, with 
whatever is; but when such well-known conservative 
lawyers as Ex-President Taft, Elihu Root and Alton B. 
Parker unite in denouncing the present procedure, we 
feel that there must be great justification. 

1 Mere Literature and Other Essays, p. 168. 



296 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

7. Has the authority been given credence by oppo- 
nents? This is not meant to imply that any authority 
used by an opponent must thereafter be accepted by 
them; but if they have put much stress upon an au- 
thority, they at least have difficulty in rejecting him, 
when cited by others. In the Cooper Union speech 
Lincoln made good use of Douglas 's authority. 

8. When and where did your authority express him- 
self? At what period of his life? Before or after in- 
vestigation and experience? Woodrow Wilson the gov- 
ernor of New Jersey begged leave to withdraw the opin- 
ion of Woodrow Wilson the Princeton scholar, upon direct 
primaries. Was the scientist you quote expressing a de- 
liberate judgment, or giving rein to his fancy, or speak- 
ing facetiously, as Dr. Osier spoke when he caused so 
much mistaken agitation by declaring that men should 
be chloroformed at sixty? Was the statement made in 
a political campaign, or after the dust had settled? In 
the midst of conflict, or with historical perspective? 
Usually the deliberately made statement has the greater 
weight; but in some instances greater signification at- 
taches to statements made before time for forgetfulness 
or deliberate falsification has elapsed. 

9. In what manner did the alleged authority express 
himself ? In a speech ? If so, formal or informal ? In 
a newspaper article or interview ? In a carefully edited 
review? Or in a serious volume? Book covers do not 
change lies into truth, or fallacies into logic ; but we are 
certainly the more impressed by a statement the more 
careful its preparation and the more permanent its form. 

10. ^^^Is too great reliance placed on one authority? 
Writers and speakers seldom address a group of people 

1 Foster's Argumentation and Debating^ p. 67. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 297 

who are willing to accept the testimony of any one man 
as final. . . . The concurrent testimony of two or more 
authoricies to the same essentials, where there has been 
apparently no opportunity or motive for previous agree- 
ment, strengthens the probability of truth. . . . An ex- 
ample may be taken from an address by Dr. Dudley A. 
Sargent before the New England Association of Colleges 
and Preparatory Schools : 

" ^Criminals, dullards, the feeble-minded, and the insane as a 
class are considerably below the average normal individual in 
physique, as shown by height and weight. ... In the year 1893, 
Dr. William T. Porter examined some thirty thousand children who 
were in the public schools of St. Louis. He found that, among 
pupils of the same age, the average height and weight of those who 
were of the higher grades was greater than that of those who were 
in the lower grades. . . . This announcement called forth consid- 
erable criticism at the time. ... It may be of interest, therefore, 
to note that Dr. Porter's conclusions have since been confirmed by 
the observations made by Dr. Hastings in Omaha, Nebraska, Dr. 
Byer in Cambridge, Dr. Christopher in Chicago, and by Dr. Leharzig 
in St. Petersburg, Russia. In the face of such a body of concur- 
rent statistics from different parts of this country and Europe, no 
one can doubt for a moment the natural relationship between a 
vigorous brain and a vigorous body.' " 

A scientist supports his statements with a long list of 
authorities, quoted at length. The reader may skip all 
he does not care to read. But in public speech, while all 
I have quoted from President Foster 's is sound, we must 
beware of boring our hearers who cannot so readily es- 
cape. You will notice that audiences rarely listen well 
to long extracts, unless the reading is very good indeed. 
Choose out the best of your possible authorities, and make 
your quotations as brief and as much to the point as is 
practicable, having due regard for the other requirements 
for the good use of authorities. 

11. Is your use of authority explicit ? In the first 
place, it is usually well to state who your authority is and 
where the statement used is to be found, unless this is ob- 
viously unnecessary, as in the case of familiar quota- 



298 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

tions from Shakespeare or the Bible. Foster^ properly 
condemns such phrases as these : 

Statistics gathered with great care show — 

Many proper men agree — 

Competent authorities say — 

We could give hundreds of cases to show — 

*^ It is a bare assertion to say that the number of estab- 
lishments maintaining the ten-hour day is increasing. 
To say that you have the statement on 'good authority' 
is no better. To say that you depend for authority on 
the words of Carroll D. Wright is one step in advance. 
Still the reference is not sufficiently definite. It would 
be better to say: ^Carroll D. Wright, formerly United 
States Commissioner of Labor, says, in the introduction 
to his annual report for 1904, that the number of estab- 
lishments maintaining the ten-hour day is increasing.' " 

In the second place, it is better practice to quote 
the words of your authority, when this is feasible, than 
to give a paraphrase. Paraphrases give opportunity for 
some of the worst trickery of debaters, in the way of 
garbling and distorting the statements of authorities. It 
is frequently profitable to demand or to look up the origi- 
nals of an opponent's paraphrases. Whoever para- 
phrases the statements of others, under circumstances in 
luhich he may be tempted to distort, lays himself open to 
the suspicion of thoughtful men. Even the most honest 
of debaters will color such restatements with their own 
prejudices. There are, of course, times when strictness 
is unnecessary; but at best the paraphraser makes him- 
self the authority, and he should be confident that he 
will be accepted in that role. 

You will note in the quotation from Dr. Sargent above, that the 
speaker in citing the findings of Dr. Porter does not give his words, 
or state where they may be found ; and that in giving supporting 

1 Argumentation and Delating, p. 59. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 299 

testimony of other investigators he merely declares their findings 
were in harmony with Dr. Porter's. Dr. Sargent is speaking before 
a body little likely to question his statements of fact. The point 
under discussion is definite and not liable to be colored by preju- 
dice. Furthermore, there may have been those present or among 
the probable readers of the paper on its publication, who would 
challenge any misstatement. There are times when a statement 
made in public acquires a certain validity from the fact that its 
author would hardly risk the exposure of misstatements. Never- 
theless, I believe that, even in this case, more explicit reference to 
the authorities would have been w^ise. 

In some college debates upon "the popular review of judicial de- 
cisions," speakers persistently rattled off lists of cases which they 
declared illustrated how the courts refuse, or are unable, under the 
"due process clause" of the Constitution, to do justice to working- 
men. No statements of the facts of the cases, and not even cita- 
tions from the opinions, were made. Such use of authority should 
influence only the simplest ; and its effect should certainly be de- 
stroyed for all by a simple challenge. 

Let me here register a protest against the practice of young de- 
baters of waving aloft a letter and shouting, "I hold in my hand 
a letter from the Honorable Silas Bunk, Member of Congress from 
Bunkum, and he says the tariff is a tax !" Not the least of the 
objections to this practice is the nuisance these debaters commit 
in deluging men of prominence wdth requests for opinions on all 
sorts of questions. They frequently ask for matter that would cost 
days of preparation. They usually get the vaguest of replies, of 
extremely little value. 

This same sort of a debater often holds up a ponderous tome, 
makes a loose statement in regard to its contents, and then stalks 
across and slams it down on the table of his opponents with a chal- 
lenge to refute his statements, — a little task which would require 
some hours of reading. In a recent debate the members of one team 
simply carried great books under their arms, without opening them 
or making a single definite reference to their contents. This would 
seem to be carrying the game of "bluff" to its logical extreme. 

12. Are you citing authority to support what needs 
support? The fact that one has a good citation should 
not lead him to use it where no support is needed, or 
where there is ample support of a stronger sort. 

The above are the more important considerations which 
affect the use of authorities. If one says that it is im- 



300 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

possible to support the use of authorities with such care 
as is indicated, the answer is that the degree of care 
depends upon the circumstances of each case; but that 
in no case is there any use of citing authorities in such a 
way that they will not be accepted. But frequently, 
after all, an authority may be cited effectually in a very 
simple way. When you say, ' ' General Grant states in his 
Memoirs at page 503—" you have said all that can be 
said; not that Grant is always final authority, but that 
nothing further would add weight to your citation. 

Attacking authorities. We should not be unduly awed 
by authorities when they are cited against us. There 
are some which before some audiences it is useless to at- 
tack. Before most audiences the authority of the Bible 
is final; but Scripture has often been answered with 
Scripture. Very often we can show that a quotation 
taken from unimpeachable authority does not mean, 
taken with its context or under the circumstances of its 
utterance, what it has been made to mean ; or we may be 
able to show that the one quoted later changed his mind. 

If one is sure of his ground, he may attempt to refute 
the opinion of almost any authority. This one should 
do modestly, but without apology, setting forth facts 
and arguments which do overcome the great man's opin- 
ion. After all, authorities are rarely infallible, and the 
most firmly held opinions of the greatest thinkers are 
toppled over. The science and philosophy of yesterday 
are the exploded theories of to-day, and the superstitions 
of to-morrow. Darwin no longer has the last word on 
evolution. One should not let himself be clubbed into 
submission with great names. If Shakespeare is hurled 
at him, he may point out that Shakespeare spoke in many 
characters, and that it is impossible, in most cases, to 
determine what the playwright really believed. If the 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 301 

great name be AVashington, one may express his respect 
for the Father of his Country, and yet apply certain 
tests ; as, Did Washington, in uttering the words quoted, 
have in mind just such a situation as we face ? One may 
venture, with care, to ask why Washington should be 
assumed to have had a wisdom equal to guiding us in all 
respects to-day, a wisdom he would not have claimed for 
a moment. Why should it be thought that Monroe, or 
John Quincy Adams, should guide us in dealing with 
Mexico ? 

We must, however, take cognizance of the danger from 
laying ourselves open to the sneer, ' ' He thinks he knows 
more than Washington!" In one short speech the task 
of overcoming a great name may be too difficult to at- 
tempt. Frequently it is best to ignore an authority which 
has great influence, rather than to emphasize its im- 
portance by futile attack. Prove your case otherwise ; or 
hurl greater authority, or a large number of good author- 
ities, at your opponent's position. 

There are not many who would venture so far as did Webster, in 
the following incident, which illustrates the importance of the repu- 
tation of the speaker who defies authority : i 

"In the celebrated Smith Will trial, his antagonist, Mr. Choate, 
quoted a decision of Lord Chancellor Camden. In his reply, Web- 
ster argued against its validity as though it were a proposition laid 
down by Mr. Choate. 'But it is not mine, it is Lord Camden's,' 
was the instant retort. Webster paused for half a minute, and then, 
with his eye fixed on the presiding judge, he replied : 'Lord Cam- 
den was a great judge ; he is respected by every American, for he 
was on our side in the Revolution ; but, may it please your honor, 
I differ from Lord Camden.' There was hardly a lawyer in the 
United States who could have made such a statement without ex- 
posing himself to ridicule ; but it did not seem at all ridiculous, when 
the 'I' stood for Daniel Webster." 

The following from Lincoln, in discussing the Dred Scott Deci- 
sion by the Supreme Court, is at once an instance of a bold facing 
of an imposing authority, and, as Foster points out, a statement of 
how such an authority may be tested. If memory serves, both 

1 Whipple, Welster as a Master of English Style, 



302 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Bryan and Roosevelt have used this passage to support them in 
questioning decisions of this court. 

"Judicial decisions are of greater or less authority as precedents 
according to circumstances. That this should be so accords both 
with common sense and the customary understanding of the legal 
profession. 

"If this important decision had been made by the unanimous con- 
currence of the judges, and without any apparent partizan bias, 
and in accordance with legal public expectation and with the steady 
practice of the departments throughout our history, and had been 
in no part based on assumed historical facts, which are not really 
true ; or, if wanting in some of these, it had been before the court 
more than once and had there been affirmed and reaffirmed through 
a course of years, it might then be, perhaps would be, factious, nay 
even revolutionary, not to acquiesce in it as a precedent. 

"But when, as is true, we find it wanting in all these claims to 
the public confidence, it is not factious, it is not even disrespectful, 
to treat it as not having yet quite established a settled doctrine 
for the country." 

Lincoln, of course, substantiated and amplified the assertions of 
this compact passage. This necessity of opposing a decision of the 
Supreme Court was a serious burden upon Lincoln, throughout his 
debates with Douglas, and again and again he defends himself. In 
his debate at Quincy he says : 

"We do not propose that when Dred Scott has been decided to 
be a slave by the court, we, as a mob, will decide him to be free. 
. . . We propose so resisting as to have the decision reversed if 
we can, and a new judicial rule established upon this subject." 

At Galesburgh, he cites authorities that Douglas is bound to re- 
spect as a Democrat : 

"Jefferson said that ^Judges are as honest as other men, and 
not more so.' And he said, substantially, 'that whenever a free 
people should give up in absolute submission to any department of 
government, retaining for themselves no appeal from it, their lib- 
erties were gone.' " 

At Ottawa Lincoln not only cited famous Democrats, but made 
Douglas himself furnish a precedent : 

"This man sticks to a decision . . . not because he says it is 
right in itself . . . but because it has been decided hy the court; 
and ... a decision of the court is to him a 'Thus saith the Lord.' 
... It is nothing that I point out to him that his great prototype. 
General Jackson, did not believe in the binding force of decisions. 
It is nothing that Jefferson did not so believe. ... I will tell him, 
though, that he now claims to stand on the Cincinnati platform, 
which affirms that Congress cannot charter a national bank, in the 
teeth of that old standing decision that Congress can charter a 
bank. And I remind him of another piece of history on the ques- 
tion of respect for judicial decisions, and it is a piece of Illinois his- 
tory, belonging to a time when a large party to which Judge Doug- 
las belonged were displeased with a decision of the Supreme Court 
of Illinois. ... I know that Judge Douglas will not deny that he 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 303 

was then in favor of overslaughing that decision by the mode of 
adding five new judges, so as to vote down the four old ones. Not 
only so, but it ended in the Judge's sitting down on the very bench 
as one of the five new judges to break down the four old ones. It 
was in this way precisely that he got his title of judge. Now, when 
the Judge tells me that men appointed conditionally to sit as mem- 
bers of a court will have to be catechized beforehand upon some 
subject, I say, 'You know, Judge, you have tried it!'" 

Intercollegiate debaters have an overworked trick of quoting as 
authority the president or other prominent faculty member of the 
institution their opponents represent, with an air which seems to 
say, ''You cannot go back on that!" The shallow trick was neatly 
exposed by a Pennsylvania debater in a contest with a Cornell 
team. The Cornell debaters had quoted with gusto several times 
Dean William Draper Lewis of the College of Law in the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, in favor of the popular review of judicial 
decisions. The Pennsylvania leader finally replied : "We have 
great respect for Dean Lewis and for his opinions on questions of 
law ; but we do not feel bound to accept his authority as final on 
any question whatever. *If this be treason, make the most of it !' " 

When confronted with authorities not very imposing 
in the eyes of your audience, the case is less difficult. 
They may be ignored at times. The problem is to judge 
whether they have made impression enough to be worth 
your time, or the risk of giving them importance through 
an attack. The methods of attack in general should be 
apparent enough from the questions above. 

If some man is put forward as authority who is not 
well known and whose claim to be an authority is not well 
supported, the simple question. Who is this Smith? 
may suffice to destroy the effect of his statements; or 
one may proceed at once to show how little grounds there 
are for making Smith an authority. Unless you know 
his pretensions are flimsy, however, you run the risk of 
an effective rejoinder in his support, and your question 
will have emphasized his importance. 

The question of prejudice should be especially noticed. 
The intimation that an authority is biased is so destruc- 
tive to his influence, that the charge is often made with- 



304 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

out good reason. But the fact that the charge of bias is 
made unscrupulously should not deter us in a clear case 
from questioning an authority on this ground. If Macau- 
lay were quoted on a question of English history, a ques- 
tion disputed by Whigs and Tories, it would be fair to 
use the statement quoted above from President Wilson in 
regard to Macaulay 's Whig bias. On partizan questions 
any politician 's statements are open to attack. 

What means of overcoming authority have been used in the fol- 
lowing : 

"A letter from 'H. L.' in your columns on April 20 quotes a state- 
ment from a few English physicians as to the benefits of alcoholic 
liquors both as medicine and as beverage. This statement is said 
by H. L. to have appeared in the Lancet 'recently.' The fact is it 
appeared in the Lancet some years ago. It was prepared by an 
agent of the liquor traffic in England and signed by only sixteen 
physicians out of the thousands of physicians of that country. 
Upon investigation it was found that about half of the signers 
were men who owned brew^ery or distillery stock. That such a 
statement was deemed necessary was due to the outspoken utter- 
ances against alcoholic liquors of such men as Sir Frederick Treves, 
surgeon to the King : Sir Thomas Barlow, physician to the King ; 
Sir Victor Horsley, England's greatest neurological surgeon; Sir 
A. Pearce Gould of the INliddlesex Hospital, Sir James Barr, dean of 
the Medical School of Liverpool University ; Prof. Sims Woodhead 
of Cambridge University Medical School, and others of like stand- 
ing." 

Authoritativeness of the speaker. Not only will cita- 
tions from others have an influence in securing fair- 
minded attention from an audience, but also the attitude, 
reputation and characteristics of the speaker himself. 
He, after all, is usually the principal authority for the 
occasion. Nothing helps a speaker more than the feeling 
upon the part of his hearers that he is sound and trust- 
worthy. 

We like to know, first, that our speaker is well fitted 
to treat his subject, that he knows what he is talking 
about. We are especially pleased if his investigation 
and his experiences give him special fitness. We like to 
hear an engineer who has had a part in building the 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 305 

Panama Canal tell of its construction. At times it is 
desirable that the audience be told of a speaker's special 
fitness. The speaker may do this himself, with entire 
frankness and without either boasting or self-deprecia- 
tion. Sometimes the facts may be brought out indirectly, 
as in the narrative portion of an address, where a single 
pronoun may suffice to let the audience know the speaker 
witnessed the events he describes; as, ''Our party was 
stationed at this point. ' ' Frequently a discreet chairman 
will make the statement which, without puffery, adds to 
the speaker's prestige. 

In most cases the fact that one comes forward to speak should 
be sufficient announcement of his preparation. Happy is the 
speaker who has established a reputation for fulfilling the just ex- 
pectations of his audience in this respect. Student speakers in a 
class in public speaking usually need no announcement. There are, 
however, instances in which such speakers do well to let their hearers 
know of their special opportunities for information. A student 
speaking on labor problems may properly refer to his experiences as 
laborer, foreman, or employer. Or, one speaking on a Southern 
question would gain in authority by such an allusion as, ''Down in 
my home state of Alabama." 

Extravagance of statement. In the second place, a 
speaker is much assisted by a reputation for sound judg- 
ment. This reputation is gained by emotional poise, 
good logic and wise conclusions. Such a reputation is 
weakened by the habit of rash and exaggerated state- 
ment. ^^That terrible sanity of the average man is 
always watching you," says Barrett Wendell.^ If you 
recklessly overstate your claims, all your statements will 
be mistrusted. Habitual exaggeration on your part will 
lead to habitual discounting by your hearers. Claims 
that ^' votes for women" will cure all the ills of the body 
politic have hurt rather than helped the suffrage prop- 
aganda. 

1 English Composition, p. 271. 



306 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

I have rarely heard a speech on either side of this subject which 
did not drive me into opposition by its extravagance. *'When we 
women get the ballot, we shall make impossible all these dreadful 
inequalities of wages," says one. "When women go to the polls 
homes will become a thing of the past," says an opponent. And 
the unexcitable citizen, rejecting all this exaggeration and losing 
sight of the importance of the problem, says, "Dear, dear ! is n't it 
awful? Let 'em vote if they are sure they want to. Well, how 's 
business?" 

The effect of exaggeration in argument was well illustrated when 
a student in a speech on Sulzer's Impeachment, in the fall of 1913, 
lauded the former governor of New York to the skies and described 
his enemies as monsters of iniquity. A classmate asked to com- 
ment on the speech, said, "It was a good speech, but I was not in 
the least convinced^* Was it, then, a good speech? 

Condemnation of smoking before boys (whose fathers may be 
smokers) in terms which put it on a par with drunkenness, is not 
effective. Teachers who treat bad usage in English as if it were 
a sin, drive pupils to despise all care in expression. Reasonable- 
ness of attitude may not produce talk that sounds sO' strong, but it 
accomplishes more than exaggeration. 

Extravagance of statement repels especially the consti- 
tutionally conservative, increasing their natural suspicion 
of new proposals. It also repels the trained thinkers, 
who are accustomed to looking carefully to the support 
of assertions. The exaggerator thus loses many of those 
in the neutral division of his audience. Upon those 
mildly in opposition the effect of exaggeration is often 
to drive them into more active opposition. Do not 
present your plan or remedy, before thinking people, in 
terms that sound like the advertisement of a patent medi- 
cine, guaranteed to cure absolutely every ill that flesh 
is heir to. The weary old world is unable to believe in 
such panaceas. 

Exaggerated statements are specially open to mis- 
understanding. Statements that may have been ac- 
cepted as justifiable in the heat of debate, appear in a 
different light in the morning paper, or when quoted on 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 307 

the street. Misunderstood and misquoted, they may 
travel far and win for their author the reputation of be- 
ing unsafe. And once he becomes known as an extremist, 
a man not to be trusted, while he may draw crowds and 
win applause, he will not find open to him the ears of 
the earnest seekers after truth, the honest, moderate pro- 
gressive who brings things to pass. No doubt the agitator 
has his place in our scheme of society, beating on the 
tom-toms and calling attention to wrongs; but the 
Lincolns, not the Phillipses, in the end win the masses 
of men and carry through reforms. 

The exaggerator plays into the hands of his opponents. 
First, because he makes it so easy for them to discredit 
him, by proving the untrustworthiness of his statements. 
Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus^ is a proverb audiences 
are quick to accept. Authorities can be used effectively 
against the exaggerator. The gentleman says that the 
cruel justice of the white man has left but few Indians 
in his native land; but So and So, the well known au- 
thority, in such and such a place, declares that there are 
more Indians in America to-day than in the days of 
Columbus. In the second place, the exaggerator makes 
wilful misrepresentation very easy. 

That the danger of misrepresentation, wilful or otherwise, to 
which I have several times referred, is real, will be questioned by 
no one who has passed through any war of words. A review of the 
Lincoln-Douglas Debates will show how even a man so careful in 
his statements as Lincoln was constantly misrepresented by the 
wily Douglas. I have referred already to the debate at Alton. 

Mrs. Phillip Snowdon, the eloquent English advocate of women's 
suffrage, told in a speech of reading in the same Scottish paper of a 
man who for stealing two overcoats in order to get food for his 
children was given a sentence of six months, and of another man 
who for criminally assaulting a little girl was fined five shillings. 
Before proceeding to her criticisms on man-made and man-admin- 
istered law, she spoke very deliberately to this effect : "Now, mind 
you, it is wrong to steal overcoats. Every public speaker present 



308 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

will sympathize with me when I say I do not wish to be represented 
as saying anything to the contrary. It is wrong to steal overcoats." 

It is not possible, of course, to emphasize both sides of 
a truth at once, and overemphasis in vigorous statements 
is almost inevitable. Indeed, the preceding paragraphs, 
taken alone, exaggei:ate the evils of exaggeration. We 
have already noted that exaggeration has its place in 
handling crowds and mobs. Positiveness is an element 
in authoritativeness. If a speaker is not sure of his 
ground, his hearers are little likely to accept his state- 
ments or conclusions. The world listens to the man who 
knows; it does not follow doubting leaders. The 
speaker, therefore, should limit his statements with as few 
qualifying clauses as is consistent with truth. The way 
to gain the force of positiveness, however, is not to make 
reckless assertions, but to make sure of one's ground. 
Few of us would care to say with Alexander H. Stephens, 
'^I am never wrong on a subject I have investigated"; 
but we should by investigation and by consulting authori- 
ties, so far as possible obey the injunction, ''Be sure you 
are right, and then go ahead." We should obey both 
parts, too ; that is, having made sure, we should go ahead 
with conviction and confidence. 

Hyperbole, that is, exaggeration understood as such, is 
effective for arousing one 's adherents, who need no argu- 
ments as to the correctness of the speaker 's position, but 
do need enthusiasm. When the German Emperor pro- 
claims that Germany will fight while a single German 
soldier has breath in his body, we understand that he is 
speaking the language of strong emotion, and is inciting 
his people to great sacrifices. 

A painful degree of accuracy is not demanded of a public speaker. 
$1,897,689 may be spoken of as $2,000,000, or as millions, unless 
accuracy is important. Honesty, in public as in private speech, 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 309 

depends upon the understanding of one's hearers. When Wendell 
Phillips shouted to an angry audience as he turned to the reporters, 
"Howl on ; I speak to thirty millions here !" nobody took him up 
on the ground that he could not possibly reach the entire population 
through the papers. Again, inaccurate words may express essential 
truth better than accurate words. When a speaker says that the 
assassination of Lincoln plunged the country into profound grief 
and shocked the civilized world, we do not understand him to mean 
that all Americans wept and lost their appetites, and that the 
business of the world halted ; yet the words do convey truly enough 
the effect of that calamity upon the calloused indifference of man- 
kind. 

* 'Hyperbole may assist precision, even when it falsifies fact. 
Said John Randolph when seeking to provoke a duel with Henry 
Clay, 'A hyperbole for meanness is an ellipsis for Clay.' Though 
false to fact it was not so to the real meaning of the speaker." i 

As Genung says.2 ''Hyperbole is a recognition of the fact that 
while the observer may conceive an object vividly there is a shrink- 
age in the reader's apprehension of it. Its exaggeration does not 
mislead it ; it simply allows for the shrinkage." 

But as the same writer points out, hyperbole easily runs into bom- 
bast, or makes its subject ludicrous. Listen to a student of mine, 
speaking in dead earnest on the bribery of city officials by street 
railway companies : ''These examples should stir your cold Ameri- 
can blood to white heat ! Red hot flames of anger should issue from 
your mouths as from fiery furnaces I If you are true Americans 
you will do something!" 

The strength of understatement. We are now ready 
to note, what young speakers are often slow to learn, 
that understatement is sometimes more forceful and per- 
suasive than overstatement. Perhaps no speaker ever 
had more authority than Webster. After hearing one of 
his short speeches a farmer said, ^^He didn't say much, 
but every word weighed a pound." One element in 
this weightiness is explained in the following from 
Marsh : ^ 

*'It was a maxim of Webster's, that violence of lan- 
guage w^as indicative of feebleness of thought and want 
of reasoning power, and it was his practice to under- 

1 Phelps and Frink, Rhetoric, p. 82. 

2 Working Principles of Rhetoric, p. 99. 

3 Lectures on the English Language, p. 235. 



310 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

state rather than overstate the strength of his confidence 
in the soundness of his own arguments, and the logical 
necessity of his conclusions. He kept his auditor con- 
stantly in advance of him, by suggestion rather than by 
strong asseveration, by a calm exposition of considera- 
tions which ought to excite feeling in the heart of both 
speaker and hearer, not by an undignified and theatrical 
exhibition of passion in himself. ' ' 

Do not indulge much in the exclamatory style, which 
is a besetting sin of some preachers. They deliver whole 
sermons in which the ^^ scare mark" (!) is the only ap- 
propriate punctuation. This produces the style de- 
scribed as the '^feeble forcible." I should be sorry to 
have my urging to make expression vivid take as urging 
this strained form of statement ; though the exclamation, 
sparingly used, may be effective. 

I heard a man who had recently seen something of the horrors of 
the European war. He was evidently greatly moved by his ex- 
periences, and we responded to his earnestness and to the interest of 
his theme ; but the effect was much lessened by his constantly telling 
us how greatly the scenes moved him rather than telling us in sim- 
ple terms what moved him. Another speaker upon the same theme 
impressed me much more. He had the skill to tell just what he 
had seen. This he did very interestingly, without a single expres- 
sion of horror ; yet the final impression was a strong disgust for 
modern warfare. Simple vividness was sufficient for facts that 
could not be exaggerated. 

The following from a speech by Lowell at a dinner given him 
in London in 1888, is cited by Brander Matthews as ''a most felici- 
tous example of the value of adroit understatement." i 

"I have been told often enough to remember that my countrymen 
are apt to think that they are always in the right — that they are 
apt to look at their own side of the question only. Now, this char- 
acteristic conduces certainly to peace of mind and imperturbability 
of judgment, whatever other merits it may have. [He paused a 
moment, and then added:] I am sure I don't know where we got 
it — do you?" 

Wendell Phillips, that ^'infernal machine set to music," showed 
in his oration on Toussaint L'Ouverture that he knew well the 
value of restraint of expression in the midst of a speech which, as 

1 Notes on Speech-Making, p. 70. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF Sll 

a whole, must have impressed his hearers in 1861 as a marvel of 
exaggeration. He no doubt realized that understatement is a most 
valuable means of giving exaggeration plausibility. It is worth 
while to quote a considerable passage as an example of good oral 
style : 

*'Let us pause a moment and find something to measure him by. 
You remember Macaulay says, comparing Cromwell with Napoleon, 
that Cromwell showed the greater military genius, if we consider 
that he never saw^ an army till he was forty ; while Napoleon was 
educated from a boy in the best military schools in Europe. Crom- 
well manufactured his own army ; Napoleon at the age of twenty 
seven was placed at the head of the best troops Europe ever saw. 
They were both successful ; but says Macaulay, with such disad- 
vantages, the Englishman showed the greater genius. Whether you 
allow the inference or not, you will at least grant that it is a fair 
mode of measurement. Apply it to Toussaint. Cromwell never 
saw an ai*my till he was forty ; this man never saw a soldier till 
he was fifty. Cromwell manufactured his own aiTQy — out of what? 
Englishmen, — the best blood in Europe. Out of the middle class 
of Englishmen, — the best blood of the island. And with it he con- 
quered what? Englishmen, — their equals. This man manufactured 
his army out of what? Out of what you call the despicable race of 
negroes, debased, demoralized by two hundred years of slavery, one 
hundred thousand of them imported into the island within four 
years, unable to speak a dialect intelligible even to each other. Yet 
out of this mixed and, as you say, despicable mass, he forged a 
thunderbolt and hurled it at what? At the proudest blood in 
Europe, the Spaniard, and sent him home conquered ; at the most 
warlike blood in Europe, the French, and put them under his feet ; 
at the pluckiest blood in Europe, the English, and they skulked 
home to Jamaica. Now if Cromwell was a general, at least this 
man was a soldier." 

Had Phillips expressed the conclusion one is bracing himself 
against, — that Toussaint was a greater general than Cromwell or 
Napoleon,' — one's judgment would reject the claim in spite of the 
plausible argument; but hearing the mild assertion that Toussaint 
was a soldier, one is prompted to exclaim, by a sort of reaction, 
'''Nay, he was much more." We see here two reasons for the force 
s)f understatement : a sense of relief that the claim is not greater, 
and a prompting to assert more than one would accept from the 
speaker. 

Humor and authority. An important question arises 
with regard to the influence of humor upon the speaker 's 
authority. It is very pleasing to acquire the reputation 
of being amusing, but not so pleasant to find that people 
refuse to take one seriously. It is said that Mark Twain 
felt so keenly the limitations due to his reputation, that 



312 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

he first published his life of Joan of Arc anonymously, 
so that it would not be taken as a joke. There are come- 
dians on the stage eating their hearts out because when 
they attempt serious parts their public insists that they 
are funny. There is a public man, famous as an after- 
dinner speaker, to whose attempts at serious argument 
one's chief reaction is, ^^ Hurry up and tell us another 
story." Your ^^funny man" rarely succeeds in politics. 
Mr. Job Hedges, a serious and able gentleman, suffered 
in his campaign for the governorship of New York in 
1912 from the fact that in several earlier campaigns he 
had served as the humorist to warm up audiences for 
such serious speakers as Governor Hughes. Genung puts 
the case of the ^^funny man" well : ^ 

^'Men will consent to be amused by him; they will 
come in crowds to laugh at his wit and drollery; but 
when he attempts to exhort them earnestly they cannot 
easily realize that he is not joking. They have measured 
his character by a lightness of standard that he cannot 
easily surmount. This is not said as against the use of 
humor in public address ; it merely refers to the use of 
humor as the staple of the address. It should be known 
that if one aspires to reputation as a funny man, he has 
to pay for it by sacrificing something that he may after- 
wards wish he had cherished. ... In the college world, 
too, men inevitably find their level. I have seen men 
whose rising to speak on any topic before their class- 
mates only produced a broad grin, the broader as thB 
speaker attempted to be more earnest. These men had 
been too content to be class buffoons ; and when they as- 
sumed the solemn role their classmates judged that their 
specific gravity was too light to sustain such character, 
and they would have none of it. ' ' 

The bearing of these observations upon our problem 
of commanding serious attention is evident enough. Yet 
^Practical Rhetoric^ p. 451. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 313 

we need not go to the extreme of Ex-Senator Beveridge 
who seems to hold that humor should never be employed 
in a speech of serious purpose.^ While we recognize its 
dangers, in decreasing a speaker's authority and also 
in distracting attention when improperly used, we have 
also noted its value in bringing an audience into a de- 
sired mood, so that they may be willing to listen, and we 
know well the power of well used humor in making a 
point ^' stick." A moderate use of humor is not at all 
inconsistent with a serious purpose. All depends upon 
how it is used. As a rule, the students in my classes are 
much too solemn, and a joke is so unusual that often when 
one is attempted by a student speaker, his classmates 
blink solemnly without recognizing it; for a joke, you 
must know, is most appreciated when it is expected. 

One hardly knows what to make of Senator Beveridge's state- 
ments that, "To find a joke in Webster would be an offense. . . . 
Lincoln's Gettysburg address, his first and second inaugurals, his 
speech beginning the Douglas campaign and his Cooper Union ad- 
dress in New York are, perhaps, the only utterances of his that 
will endure. Yet this greatest of story tellers since ^sop did not 
adorn or deface one of these great deliverances with a story or any 
form of humor." It is true the reports of Webster's speeches are 
annotated with "Cheers" and "Great applause," and that you will 
look long for "Laughter," but you will find that. There is in a 
speech of his at Rochester much ponderous jesting about the high 
falls of the Genesee River. But turn to the speech generally called 
Webster's greatest, and by some the greatest speech of all time, 
the Reply to Hayne. No speech in our history has had a more seri- 
ous occasion or purpose ; yet it begins humorously, and contains 
several humorous passages. These are grim jokes, to be sure, but 
still they are plainly marked as jokes, and no doubt were intended 
to relieve somewhat the unavoidable grimness of the situation. 

One is glad to have stress laid on the fact that Lincoln's speeches 
are serious and free from the clownishness sometimes attributed to 
him. One will find many places in the debates with Douglas where 
Lincoln has made humor effective for his argument, though no 
places where he has yielded to the temptation to be funny for the 

1 Reed's Modern Eloquence^ Introduction to Vol. XII. 



314 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

sake of the laugh only. There are very few stories and those briefly 
put. Of course, in his inaugurals and at Gettysburg humor would 
have been as much out of place as in a psalm. But look at the 
other speeches mentioned. One cannot doubt that Lincoln's audi- 
ence was moved to laughter more than once during his Springfield 
speech. 

The Cooper Union speech has already been cited. Throughout 
his very serious argument that the fathers were not Douglas Demo- 
crats there runs a vein of humor, a sort of unexpressed chuckle over 
the dilemma into which he is placing his opponent. One will look 
long to find a better example of wit employed to destroy a some- 
what slippery fallacy, than this from the Cooper Union speech : 

"But you will not abide the election of a Republican president ! 
In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union ; and 
then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon 
us ! That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and 
mutters through his teeth, 'Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, 
and then you will be a murderer.' " 

The authoritativeness of a speaker is affected also by his per- 
sonal qualities, which will be treated below. These will be treated, 
however, not only as affecting authoritativeness, but more broadly 
as affecting directly persuasiveness. These and other qualities also 
enter into moral character, but a few words may be said in general 
upon — 

Moral character and the speaker's influence. Many 
writers upon the influence of speakers over audiences 
have emphasized simple goodness. The old Roman 
Quintilian, who taught oratory in the first century, said, 
'^An orator is a good man skilled in speaking." It is 
readily seen that a man of notoriously bad life cannot be 
an effective preacher of righteousness, though he plead 
like an angel of light. Nor can the man who sets up 
standards of morality widely differing from the prevail- 
ing standards, plead effectively for any cause, though it 
may have little relation to his manner of living. 

Nevertheless, we must take exception to Quintilian 's 
^ ' good man, ' ' as certain successful orators come to mind ; 
or, indeed, to any sweeping statement of the sort. Hon- 
esty compels us to acknowledge that many men not good 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 315 

have been very successful speakers, even orators. Much 
seems to depend upon the particular vices charged. A 
reputation for trickery, cruelty, or treachery to women ^ 
is usually destructive of popular influence ; but the repu- 
tation for hard drinking and carelessness in regard to 
debts which ''the great Daniel Webster" bore (very un- 
justly in both respects, we are told), did not destroy an 
influence which it is an inspiration to study, nor prevent 
his words being read and pondered, almost as was the 
Bible, beside thousands of Northern hearthstones. Bet- 
ter than Quintilian's saying, I like Emerson's words, ''If 
I should make the shortest list of the qualifications of the 
orator, I should begin with manliness," and Beecher's 
pithy dictum, ' ' Let no sneak try to be an orator. ' ' How- 
ever much the orator lacks of goodness, he will rarely be 
found weak. The orator is a leader, and weaklings do 
not lead. 

Personality. There is an element in the power of a 
speaker, sometimes called "personal magnetism," some- 
times '^personality," which can be recognized rather 
than directly cultivated. Why Alcibiades, Mirabeau, 
Webster, Clay; or, in other fields, Mahomet, Napoleon, 
Luther, Brigham Young, and Stonewall Jackson, exer- 
cised the fascination they did over men, has been ex- 
plained in many ways. (Read, if you like, the chapter 
on Personality in Eoss's Social Control.) No explana- 
tion will entirely satisfy. It is said that the art of fasci- 
nating audiences can be taught by mail. I will leave it 
to mail courses, except as this strange power is com- 
pounded of the elements of character and methods which 
we treat under other headings. 

Make as much of a mystery of "magnetism" as we 
please, it probably consists only of an unusual combina- 

1 Cf. Bryce, American Commonwealth, II, p. 217. 



316 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

tion of quite understandable characteristics. Great lead- 
ers have been men of imagination, able to stir the imag- 
ination of their followers. They have had an under- 
standing of human nature and a sympathy which have 
enabled them to adapt themselves to the view-points and 
experiences of others, to touch the right motives and 
arouse the right associations in their minds. They have 
been men of strength and positiveness of character, know- 
ing precisely what they wished to bring about, and very 
determined to succeed. 

Personal appearance is an element in personality. 
Great stature is no doubt an advantage; but Webster, 
^'the godlike Daniel," who was often spoken of as a giant, 
was of only moderate height, and Stephen A. Douglas, 
a leader of rare influence, whether before the people or in 
the Senate, was called 'Hhe Little Giant," and was less 
than five feet in height. Since we cannot by taking 
thought add to our stature, discussion of height is not of 
importance, except as it gives opportunity to say to those 
who lack height : Do not worry about the lack, and do 
not try to increase your height by ^'standing on your 
dignity"; in other words do not call attention to your 
lack by a strut. Eeal dignity of bearing can, however, 
be developed by slow degrees, by the development of cour- 
tesy and self-respect, supplemented by the physical train- 
ing described elsewhere. In brief, let us try to be sin- 
cere, straightforward, self-controlled gentlemen on the 
platform, and let personality take care of itself. 

We may add a word from Emerson ^ which touches an 
important matter to some extent within our control: 
^^ Perhaps it is the lowest of the qualities of an orator, 
but it is, on so many occasions, of chief importance, — 
a certain robust and radiant physical health." 

1 Essay on Eloquence. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 317 

We should not be discouraged by the discovery that we are not 
*'great personalities." Of course some of us will never sway audi- 
ences at will, but we can make the most of such gifts as we have. 
**The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." 
I, in common with every teacher, have seen sadly handicapped young 
men surpass their more gifted classmates. 

Fairness. Nothing more certainly induces a fair, open- 
minded attitude on the part of an audience than fair- 
ness on the part of the speaker. We have already seen 
the good effect of concessions in finding common ground. 
Fairness should be shown both in the presentation of 
one's own views and in discussing the views of an oppo- 
nent. The persuader is an advocate. He is expected 
to state his side as strongly as truth permits; but his 
audience has a right to expect him to state facts truly 
and to refrain from sophistry. To be an advocate does 
not give one a right to be other than fair and honest. 

To be fair is not only right, but profitable in the long 
run. Juries trusted ^'Honest Abe" Lincoln. Contrast 
the effect of that name with that of a name for shrewd- 
ness and pettifogging. To have one's tricks exposed is 
to become discredited. 

In order to be fair, first be reasonable. Look at the 
case of the opposition, instead of shutting your mind to 
it. Do not, like a schoolboy debater, claim everything 
for your side; but recognize, at least tacitly, that there 
is truth on the other side. Remember that we are con- 
sidering the winning of those not yet in agreement. 
Nothing marks more plainly the difference between the 
mature and the immature debater than the intolerance 
of the latter. 

Courtesy. Any exhibition of boorishness upon the 
platform will tend to decrease the sympathy of an audi- 
ence for the speaker ; while the speaker who is courteous 
may say hard, stern things with impunity. Cutting, sar- 



318 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

castic remarks may sometimes be justified, but they are 
rarely persuasive. They chill good feeling. Bad temper 
should not be mistaken for righteous indignation. In- 
vective is for the rarest occasions. It would be a good 
rule never to say on the platform anything derogatory 
of an opponent which you would not say if you were 
alone with him ; but one should refrain from the person- 
alities which might be proper enough in private. 
Schoolboys in debate often offend good taste seriously by 
aiming at each other remarks which pass as humor in 
everyday intercourse, but which on the platform seem 
mere insolence. Do not mistake a laugh cheaply won by 
blackguardism for genuine approval. 

Your audience especially deserves courtesy. It has 
paid you a compliment in giving you its time. The 
point needing most emphasis under this head is, that you 
should not trespass upon the time of your hearers be- 
yond the period allotted to you, either by those in charge 
of the meeting, or by common understanding. 

Courtesy does not demand cheap, insincere compli- 
ments to audience or community. A gracious compli- 
ment which is sincere and merited is welcome anywhere ; 
but no intelligent audience is likely to be won by the 
strained flattery with which some speakers seek good 
will. We may applaud perfunctorily, as in duty bound ; 
but applause accompanied by knowing looks and the 
nudging of neighbors is not evidence of persuasive effect. 

Respect for audiences. Courtesy should not be merely 
assumed, but should rest upon fairness of spirit and also 
genuine respect for one 's audience. Some over-confident 
young men need to consider this with care. The hum- 
blest audience deserves respect. However humble their 
individual members, in the aggregate they constitute a 
body to whom respect is due. Do not waste their time ; 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 319 

give them a fair equivalent. The best way to show 
courtesy and respect to an audience is to prepare well 
and give them your best. Your audience may be slow; 
it is likely to be if not made up of trained thinkers. 
Any audience may be slower than a beginner thinks it 
should be, for it has not thought through his subject in 
most cases; but he should not mistake slowness for stu- 
pidity, or small schooling for ignorance. 

It would be affectation to ignore the fact that some 
audiences do not represent a high level of culture and 
information ; yet rarely indeed will an audience be found 
which does not contain a goodly number of members 
who have solid wisdom and keen ability to see through 
fallacies, though they may not be able to express them- 
selves. It is never safe to assume that all the members 
of an audience are uninformed on any subject. 

Being asked to speak in a smaU country church on my observa- 
tions of New York's East Side during a residence of ten weeks in a 
college settlement, I comforted myself with the thought that I at 
least knew more of tenement life than any of my hearers. After 
my talk I learned that two persons in the audience had actually 
lived in the tenements, and that one lady had worked with immi- 
grants both at Ellis Island and in a settlement. She said I was 
quite well informed considering my limited opportunity for ob- 
servation ! 

It is difficult to tell the truth about audiences in cold 
print, without giving the essentially false impression 
that they may be freely manipulated without respect to 
their mental powers. It is true that men in general are 
not thinkers, in the strict sense of the term, that they 
may be controlled at times by suggestion and throi:igh 
their emotions, and that they have strong prejudices. 
It is true that at times they are controlled by dema- 
gogues, that they are subject to panics, and form mobs. 
Still, though much under the influence of emotion, their 



320 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

emotions are often true guides; and though sometimes 
controlled by prejudices and inherited opinions, these 
are after all the results of the experience of the race and 
not altogether bad standards of conduct. And it is 
wholesome to reflect that very rarely has the speaker oc- 
casion to feel himself superior to his hearers. Nothing 
could be better for the young speaker to fix in his mem- 
ory than the saying of that great popular leader, Lin- 
coln, spoken out of rich experience: ^^I always assume 
that my audience is in many things wiser than I am, and 
I say the most sensible things I can to them. I never 
found that they did not understand me." Edward 
Everett Hale told a group of students that they should 
remember that the least educated man in an audience 
can conceive of a better speech than the speaker can 
make. We might add that this least educated man, in 
the great majority of cases, has heard better speeches 
than the speaker can make. 

Few could speak with more authority on this subject than James 
Bryce. He says, in his chapter on the Nature of Public Opinion,i 
that nineteen out of twenty persons do not think out for themselves 
public questions. But he adds : 

"It is not that these nineteen persons are incapable of appreciat- 
ing good arguments, or unwilling to receive them. On the con- 
trary, and this is especially true of the working classes, an audience 
is pleased when solid arguments are addressed to it. . . . 

. . . "The chief difference between the so-called upper, or 
wealthier, and the humbler strata of society is, that the former are 
less influenced by sentiment and possibly more influenced by notions, 
often erroneous, of their own interest. . . . 

"The apparent paradox that where the humbler classes have dif- 
fered in opinion from the higher, they have often been proved by 
the event to have been right and their so-called betters wrong (a 
fact suflSciently illustrated by the experience of many European 
countries during the last half-century), may perhaps be explained 
by considering that the historical and scientific data on which the 
solution of a difiicult political problem depends are really just as 
little known to the wealthy as to the poor. Ordinary education, 

1 American Commonwealth, II, p. 250. This work, especially the 
second volume, is recommended to the student who wishes a clear- 
eyed view of American opinion and feeling. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 321 

even the sort of education which is represented by a university de- 
gree, does not fit a man to handle these questions, and it sometimes 
fills him with a vain conceit of his own competence which closes his 
mind to argument and to the accumulating evidence of facts. Edu- 
cation, ought, no doubt, to enlighten a man ; but the educated classes, 
speaking generally, are the property-holding classes and the pos- 
session of property does more to make a man timid than education 
does to make him hopeful. He is apt to underrate the power as 
well as the worth of sentiment ; he over-values the restraints which 
existing institutions impose, he has a faint appreciation of the cura- 
tive power of freedom, and of the tendency which brings things 
right when men have been left to their own devices, and have learnt 
from failure how to attain success. In the less-educated man a 
certain simplicity and openness of mind go some way to compen- 
sate for the lack of knowledge. He is more apt to be influenced 
by the authority of leaders ; but as, at least in England and Amer- 
ica, he is generally shrewd enough to discern between a great man 
and a demagogue, this is more a gain than a loss." 

There have been few stronger speakers in America in recent 
years, either in the Senate or on the stump, than Senator Jonathan 
P. Dolliver. He declared i "that whoever would deal with the mod- 
ern American mass-meeting must put into the preparation of his 
speech time and labor without stint or grudging." He said further : 

**The stump has been the last field of oratory to submit to the ex- 
actions of toil and care and unremitting attention to details. This 
has been partly the fault of the public, which has allowed itself to 
be imposed upon by patiently receiving all sorts and conditions of 
speec:hes. The schoolhouse and the newspapers have gone far to 
restore even the remote rural districts to their natural rights in these 
matters. Charles James Fox once said that however humble his 
audience he always felt it was his duty to do his best. That course 
was a good thing for the audience and undoubtedly a good thing for 
the orator, for in no art is it ever safe for a man to fall below the 
best that is in him. 

'*The time has come in the United States when no community is 
so remote that it does not demand a high order of public speak- 
ing. . . . The stump speaker of to-day has a good many competi- 
tors, and it behooves him to bring his audience fresh knowledge, 
or at least the old, familiar knowledge dressed up so that its friends 
will be glad to renew its acquaintance. . . . 

"The democracy of England and America is no fierce mob bewil- 
dered by the babble of tongues or the scribble of pens." 

Do not, above all things, try to patronize or ^^talk 
down" to any audience. Beware of the wheedling cir- 
cumflexed tones which imply, ^^Now, my dear good peo- 
ple, living far from the busy haunts of men, it must be a 
real treat to have me come and enlighten your igna- 

1 Saturday Evening Post, May 25, 1901, p. 7. 



322 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

ranee." You did not, years ago, enjoy speeches such as 
Mark Twain puts into the mouth of the Sunday School 
superintendent in Tom Sawyer: 

^'Now, children, I want you all to sit just as straight 
and pretty as you can and give me all your attention for 
a minute or two. There — that is it. That is the way 
good little boys and girls should do. ... I want to tell 
you how good it makes me feel to see so many bright 
clean little faces assembled in a place like this, learning 
to do right and be good. ..." 

You should use words not unfamiliar, but this does 
not require bad or childish English. The Bible is a 
model of pure English, but its language is plain to 
the simplest man. Professor Austin Phelps has well 
said : ^ 

^^The common people like to be addressed in sound 
old English which has the centuries behind it. They 
desire it to be plain, direct, strong, racy, but they never 
as a body desire it to be low. ... A rabble in the street 
will often hoot if they are addressed in bad grammar. 
Patrick Henry sought to win the favor of the backwoods- 
men of Virginia by imitating their colloquial dialect, of 
which his biographer gives the following specimen from 
one of his speeches, ^AU the larnin upon the yairth are 
not to be compared with naiteral pairts.' But his hear- 
ers, backwoodsmen though they were, knew better than 
that ; and they knew that a statesman of the Old Domin- 
ion ought to speak good English. They were his severest 
critics. The common people know good English when 
they hear it ; they understand it ; men crave it who never 
use it. In their unconscious criticism of a speaker, his 
right to their heading depends on his ability to say some- 
thing worth their hearing ; and one of the first evidences 
they look for of that ability is that he speaks better Eng- 
lish than they do. ' ' 

1 Phelps and Frink, Rhetoric, p. 17. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 323 

And, mind you, respect for audiences must be felt. 
Do not doubt that we reveal in our speeches many 
things we would not, and perhaps are unconscious of, — 
peevishness, egotism, weakness, contempt. The snob will 
show himself in his speech as well as the hypocrite. 

Modesty. We like a speaker who knows his own 
mind and speaks with the note of strong conviction, but 
we resent any touch of strut or bullying. ' ' Franklin, in 
criticizing one of the appeals of the American colonies 
to the king for a redress of grievances, advised a more 
manly style. Said he, ^Firmness carries weight : a stmt 
never does.' When we detect the 'strut' in discourse, 
we are instinctively aroused to cavil and criticize. ' ' ^ 
There are men who. make excellent arguments, yet feel- 
ing, perhaps justly, their superiority as thinkers, they 
let a note creep into their voices which says, ^'Now is n't 
that clever?" and, ''Have n't I shown you how foolish 
you are?" and this awakens a rebellion in their hearers. 
It is hard for such men to be "convincing speakers whom 
one does not resent. ' ' 

Do not make a parade of knowledge. Usually an audi- 
ence is glad to be informed, and is willing to acknowl- 
edge any advantages their speaker may possess over 
them; but they are quick to resent any suggestion of 
showing off. "He thinks he knows it all," is often 
heard. The young college man, however modest, is likely 
to be under suspicion in this respect. 

Modesty does not require apologies for one 's unworthi- 
ness to speak to one's audience, or upon the subject 
chosen. There are times when apologies are due, per- 
haps, but occasion for them should be avoided when pos- 
sible. Apologies for lack of preparation are especially 
objectionable. If an audience forces one to speak with- 

1 Phelps and Frink, Rhetoric, p. 195. 



324 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

out opportunity for preparation, no apologies are due, 
though one might wish to make an explanation in self- 
defense. Apologies under other circumstances are often 
equivalent to telling the audience that they have not 
been considered worth effort. Worst of all, apology for 
lack of preparation is often only a way of bragging : the 
speaker seems to say, *'See what I can do without half 
trying ; just imagine what I might do if I should really 
try ! ' ' Much of this apologizing comes from the foolish 
desire to give the impression that one is speaking im- 
promptu. 

Never make an apology that is not sincere. A young 
man called upon to address the veterans of the Civil 
War, might sincerely wish to compare his inexperience 
with their experience. It would not be an apology, but 
a way of paying a compliment to his hearers. When 
Robert IngersoU began a lecture on Shakespeare by say- 
ing he felt like a man trying to bear up an enormous 
globe which quite exceeded his grasp, it was only a way 
of expressing his sense of the greatness of Shakespeare. 
In general, one should not attempt a theme he is not 
qualified to speak upon before the given audience. In 
any case, having accepted the invitation, he should give 
such time to preparation as he can, and then no apology 
is needed. 

There is a conflict of opinion between those who beUeve that a 
speaker should speak with the utmost self-confidence and those 
who hold for a more modest attitude. Senator Beveridge says very 
positively : i 

*'Not one immortal utterance can be produced which contains 
such expressions as, *I may be wrong,' or, 'In my humble judg- 
ment,' or, 'In my judgment.' The great speakers, in their highest 
moments, have always been so charged with aggressive convictions 
that they announce their conclusions as ultimate truths. They 
speak 'as one having authority,' and therefore, 'the common people 
hear them gladly.' " 

1 Reed's Modern Eloquence, Introduction to Vol, XII. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 325 

However true this may be of "great speakers, in their highest 
moments," one is not always delivering "immortal utterances." 
Certainly Lincoln was a great leader, yet he often spoke with hu- 
mility, calling himself "a humble man," and taking the utmost pains 
to explain his conclusions. He was always respectful of the opin- 
ions of others ; and even when President, and w^hen delivering his 
addresses which Senator Beveridge says will live, he never spoke 
in an aggressive ex-cathedra manner. Read the Gettysburg Ad- 
dress and the two inaugural addresses. He speaks with unassum- 
ing dignity, as the President, but as one who rather minimizes than 
magnifies his authority. There is not the voice of command, but 
that of a father to his elder children. 

I will quote again from wise old Benjamin Franklin, who knew 
how to manage men. He tells us in his Autoljiograpliij, that he as a 
youth practised the Socratic method of argument, much to the dis- 
comfiture of others. 

"I practised this method for some years, but gradually left it, re- 
taining only the habit of expressing myself in terms of modest dif- 
fidence, never using when I advance anything that may possibly 
be disputed, the words certainly, undoubtedly . . . ; but rather 
say, / conceive, or apprehend, a thing to be so and so ; It appears to 
me, or / sliould not think it so and so, for such and such reasons; 
or / imagine it to he so; or It is so, if I am not mistaken. This 
habit, I believe, has been of great advantage to me when I have had 
occasion to inculcate my opinions and persuade men into measures 
that I have been from time to time engaged in promoting. ... I 
wish well-meaning and sensible men would not lessen their power 
of doing good by a positive assuming manner, that seldom fails to 
disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat most of those pur- 
poses for which speech was given us." 

Following Franklin's policy, we should not attempt to lay down 
any positive rule on this matter. Much depends upon the situation. 
In leading a great mass of men, who are more or less suggestible 
and largely in harmony with the speaker, the positive assertion may 
be best ; but in winning over thinking men Franklin's way is usually 
better. Much depends also upon the speaker. Most of us had 
best leave the hurling of thunderbolts to the Luther s and Mirabeaus. 

Modesty, like other personal characteristics, is a mat- 
ter of delivery as well as of composition. I recall a 
student who was ' ' drilling ' ' a speech on war. His man- 
ner implied strongly that his audience was very wrong 
in their militaristic leanings and that he was, rather re- 
bukingly, setting them right. He admitted that this 
was his feeling. But after several critics had objected, 



326 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

he was brought to see that he was a very young man, 
talking to many presumably wiser in general ; and that 
it was more becoming to him to submit his ideas for our 
consideration, vigorously and self -respectfully, but yet 
modestly. He had a notable success; yet he did not 
change a word of his speech. 

Self-respect. If the circumflexed tones of condescen- 
sion are objectionable, even less persuasive are the cir- 
cumflexes of one who holds himself too cheaply. No 
audience will give respectful attention to one who does 
not respect himself. It will scorn the man who lacks the 
courage of his own convictions, and who seems to be 
begging his audience to tolerate him and his ideas. One 
may be sure that such an attitude did not go with Frank- 
lin's modest phrases. No suggestion regarding modesty, 
courtesy or tact, should be taken to mean that a speaker 
should fawn upon his audience. An audience respects 
manliness above all things, and has far more regard for 
a good fighter than for a devotee of '^soft soap." 
Beecher, in his lecture on Oratory, speaks of throwing a 
sop to the Cerberus of envy, prejudice and jealousy 
which guards the gate to men's minds; but no one who 
knows his career, and especially knows his speech in 
Liverpool in 1863, which has become the standard ex- 
ample of a manful, yet tactful fight with a hostile audi- 
ence, will think that he meant any unmanly fawning. 

Self-respect demands, too, that although the speaker 
must reveal himself frankly, he must not become unduly 
familiar or sacrifice his personal dignity. I recall hear- 
ing a candidate who was running for the ofSce of Secre- 
tary of State in California, making a stump speech in 
his college town. Unfortunately his reputation lingered 
and the audience began calling for one of his old 
''stunts." He was reluctant, but finally gave us a song 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 327 

and dance. The crowd enjoyed the act, but I doubt if a 
single applauder felt that this was the man to be elected 
to a high office. 

I am glad to believe that there is no reason why one, from the 
low standpoint of expediency, should sacrifice his self-respect and 
dignity before the American electorate. A certain wealthy and 
dandified young man in a New York state district became a candi- 
date for Congress. He put aside his fine raiment and went among 
the farmers in a scare-crow costume. Outraged by this affront to 
their intelligence, they ^'snowed him under" at the polls. By the 
way, how should he have dressed? 

Good humor. Better than humor is good humor, 
w^hich enables us to meet all sorts of situations, however 
strained or awkward, with a smile. Good humor is a foil 
for the most dangerous attacks of an opponent, and is the 
surest means of winning over a hostile audience. Good 
humor, too, is consistent with dignity and seriousness of 
purpose. Besides, though many of us can never succeed 
as wits, we can all cultivate good humor. And it needs 
cultivation, for geniality is rather generally lacking in 
young speakers. 

How much more effective than a tart tii quoque, or you We an- 
other, was Lowell's whimsical way of reminding the British that 
they had the quality they criticized in us. (See p. 310.) 

The worst thing a speaker can do ordinarily is to show 
anger. It is a favorite trick of debaters and advocates 
to drive an opponent into a display of wrath. This not 
only destroys his authority with the audience, but is 
likely to cause him to make damaging, absurd or conflict- 
ing statements. There is great force in righteous indig- 
nation when a strong man, for a proper cause, boils over 
with wrath ; but do not have a low boiling point. 

Interruptions from the floor try the temper of the 
stump speaker; but if he keeps good natured he can 



328 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

usually be sure of having the sympathy of the audience, 
who will not demand a very high grade of answer. If he 
loses his temper he will usually find himself in their bad 
graces. 

Lincoln in the debates with Douglas came, as was natural under 
the long strain, to some pretty sharp encounters with his able and 
audacious antagonist ; but never was his good nature destroyed, 
though he was sorely tried and we find him saying in the Ottawa 
debate, "It is fortunate for me that I can keep as good-humored 
as I do, when the judge acknowledges he has been trying to make 
a question of veracity with me." When he finds it necessary to 
rebuke Douglas for misrepresenting his views on the proper position 
of the negro, he does so in a way which is good-humored, but at the 
same time makes the Judge understand that Lincoln is not all meek- 
ness : "Anything that argues me into his idea of perfect social 
and political equality with the negro is but a specious and fantastic 
arrangement of words, by which a man can prove a horse-chestnut 
to be a chestnut horse." When he is interrupted by a rowdy with 
"Put on your specs," in allusion to his difficulty in reading, he 
replies simply, "Yes, sir, I am obliged to do so ; I am no longer 
a young man." 

Manifestly good humor is helpful in maintaining fair- 
ness, courtesy, and self-control. 

Self-control. It is a truism that ^' To be a master of a 
situation a man must first be master of himself." "We 
instinctively turn for guidance to men of poise, who are 
not only unruffled under provocation, but also calm in a 
crisis; not, however, to the man who is cool from indif- 
ference, but to the man who under strong feeling yet 
remains master of his powers. Such a man on the 
platform will be able to speak with an authority never 
granted to one whose control is easily destroyed. He 
will also be able to think of the right thing to say when 
it should be said, not next day; and to judge the mood 
of his audience, whether assenting or resisting, and in 
every way to adapt himself to the situation. 

Sympathy. Whatever a speaker's purpose he needs 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF S29 

sympathy, in order that he may understand what his 
hearers are interested in, what motives move them, what 
beliefs and prejudices they have. Not only must the 
speaker understand human nature, he should have a fel- 
low feeling for those whom he addresses. And not only 
should he have this feeling, but he should be able to mani- 
fest it, to seem a friendly man, interested in those he 
addresses. 

To be sympathetic, to put one's self in the other fellow's 
place, one needs imagination. We recall, in this con- 
nection, that imagination must have material with which 
to work; and this gives opportunity to emphasize again 
the advantage of wide experience and wide knowledge 
of many kinds of men. And, having material, the 
speaker in his preparation should definitely exercise 
imagination upon it, in order to realize the situation and 
the feelings of those to be addressed. 

Tact. The speaker who is fair, reasonable, courteous 
and modest, who has a sense of humor and maintains 
good humor, and who, above all, is sympathetic, will prob- 
ably have tact, — ^'the ability to do or say the right thing 
at the right moment, or better, to avoid doing or saying 
the wrong thing." Tact seems to be a gift granted to 
some and denied to others, but the worst blunderer should 
be able to improve. The way to go about it is to study 
other people and cultivate consideration for their feel- 
ings. One cannot be tactful by rule, and a manifest 
effort to be tactful is not tactful. There must be a sym- 
pathetic understanding. Much of the preceding discus- 
sion of persuasion might be placed under the heading of 
tact, but a few special suggestions may be helpful. 

Sympathetic understanding is more than just being 
kindly disposed toward others. "We all know people as 
inept as the Newfoundland puppy who shows his affec- 



330 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

tion by planting his muddy paws on his master's dress 
clothes. Tact involves both good feeling and under- 
standing. 

We all know people who call general attention to one's defects 
and failures, who heap moral precepts upon us when we are merry 
or angry ; who try to soothe us as angry children when we think 
we are filled with righteous indignation ; who insist on rehearsing 
their successes when we are sore over defeats ; who put us in the 
wrong without leaving an opening for our wounded pride to es- 
cape ; who come fairly oozing pity for our ignorance and desire to 
set us right, and proceed to tell us what we should be fools not to 
know. Then there is the student who comes in to say, ^'Professor, 
I have got to be excused to-day," or "I must pass this course" ; or 
to say that the work for which he was conditioned was unessential ; 
or that he is being "held up on a technicality" ; or perhaps, very 
kindly, "I find this paragraph of yours rather muddy." Now, one 
who does not realize that these things are tactless and that such 
remarks make it hard for one with the best of intentions to keep 
exclusive attention upon the matter in hand, who cannot feel, for 
instance, the difference between the remark last quoted and, "I do 
not understand this paragraph," should surely give much attention 
to his tactfulness. 

Be careful of convicting your audience of ignorance. 
A student speaker began : ^ ' I believe many are ignorant 
of what forestry really is, and I wish to tell you." The 
statement was correct but unnecessary, prompting the re- 
action : ' ' Well, let 's see if you know so much. ' ' Another 
student speaking of the campus provoked the question, 
^^ Don't you think we have seen the campus?" He was 
right in assuming that we had not really seen the campus, 
with eyes open to its beauties; but a tactful speaker 
would have reminded us of things half seen, rather than 
told of them as new. A young man talking to Civil War 
veterans, would do well in presenting facts outside their 
range of information, to ascribe them to his authority, 
preferably one of their generation; or he may tell of 
newly discovered evidence. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 331 

I do not mean that a speaker need hesitate to give 
information needed, and to do so in the most direct way, 
in most cases ; but he should avoid humiliating his hear- 
ers. Student speakers should give this matter some at- 
tention, for they do not always distinguish between 
preparing a speech and preparing a report in economics, 
in which they naturally wish to appear as wise as possible. 

Do not put your audience hopelessly in the wrong. 
You know the man who in an argument is crammed full 
of facts and authorities, has an appalling memory, de- 
molishes your every point with relentless logic, leaving 
you not a leg to stand on and triumphantly forcing you 
to yield, — but no, you refuse to surrender. You take 
refuge in some side issue, you refuse to accept his 
authorities or believe his statements; you turn to such 
personalities as, ^^Well, if you know so much," or, ^'Of 
course we are all fools and knaves"; you do many things 
you are ashamed of rather than acknowledge his triumph. 
If he would generously acknowledge your correctness so 
far as you are correct, and acknowledge the justice of 
your viewpoints and feelings, you would promptly yield. 

The speaker's business will sometimes be to prove 
that the majority of his audience are in the wrong, but 
he need not insist that they are altogether wrong. They 
will not be on any debatable question, and many of their 
errors are of no account anyway. Sometimes one may 
ignore their errors and tacitly assume that they hold 
correct views. In any case, one should not make his 
attack more personal than is necessary, and foreclose 
the whole case by treating all who differ as fools, bigots, 
or knaves. ^^I am sorry for such a narrow-minded 
person," said a young speaker, referring to any one who 
held the opposite view. I recall a speech upon the 
^'popular review of judicial decisions," which implied 



SS^ PUBLIC SPEAKING 

that all who favored the plan were rascals intent upon 
wrecking the courts and our whole governmental system. 
After I had convinced this speaker that the advocates of 
the plan were patriotic men, he came back with a speech 
which acknowledged that they might mean well, but 
implied that they were very silly. As between being 
called a fool or a knave most of us would prefer the latter 
epithet. But epithets are not necessary; certainly not 
for one 's audience. 

Consider the case of a young man, just out of college, addressing 
elderly people and expressing contempt for their ideas and customs ; 
referring to the religious ideas to which they were trained as old 
fogyism, and exhibiting pride in his own advanced ideas. "All 
that is overthrown," he says ; ^'Professor Conclusions has proved, 
etc. Nobody believes that way now." None but a boor would talk 
that way, do you say? I have heard young men, ordinarily courte- 
ous, talking that way. No one is so illiberal toward the views of 
others as your young liberal. 

Must one pass over the errors of his hearers ? Not at 
all. Prove them wrong. Bring the facts and the argu- 
ments and prove their beliefs wrong. But don't triumph 
over them too much; let them acknowledge they are 
wrong. Don 't ^ ' rub it in. ' ' 



There is generous admission implied in this statement of a mis- 
sionary to a Confucian, which makes the advice more palatable : 
"You need the power of Christ to enable you to obey Confucius." 

A hint may be taken from an article entitled, Cleaning up the 
American City : How Mrs. Caroline Bartlett does it.i Mrs. Bart- 
lett went to Montgomery to make a ^'survey." She did her work, 
and then called a meeting, to which came city officials, dairymen, 
bakers and others quick to resent criticisms, especially from an out- 
sider. "Tactfully she put her compliments first, — the gratified citi- 
zens learned that their water supply was excellent, their sewer sys- 
tem and street cleaning work good, the refuse collection exceptional. 
They beamed as they were congratulated upon the remarkably good 
work done by their health officials. . . . Then they listened coura- 
geously while the speaker revealed the conditions in the bakeries, 
some of the schoolhouses, and the city jail. There was great ex- 

1 American Magazine, September, 1913. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 333 

citement after Mrs. Bartlett left, but the officials and the women's 
clubs went to work in accordance with her advice." 

Do not unnecessarily stir up prejudices. A speaker 
must often boldly face prejudices; but there is no good 
reason for stirring these up unnecessarily, and especially 
those not involved in the issue. 

On the Saturday preceding the election of 1884, Dr. Burchard 
made a speech for Blaine in New York City, in which he declared, 
^'Democracy stands for Rum, Romanism and Rebellion." Within 
an hour it was spread over the city, by means of chalk, placard 
and newspaper, that a Republican speaker had attacked the Roman 
Catholic Church. Blaine, whose own wife was a Roman Catholic, 
dared make no statement, fearing Protestant prejudice. Cleveland 
carried New York State and with it the presidency, by only eleven 
hundred votes, and many think Blaine's defeat was due to this un- 
guarded sentence of his advocate. 

No better speech for the study of tact will be found than Booker 
T. Washington's address at the Atlanta Exposition. This will be 
found, with the enthusiastic comments of Southern white men, in 
Washington's Up from Slavery, which contains also many wise ob- 
servations on speech-making, and especially on tactful adaptation 
to the audience. The speech, with an account of the occasion and 
its success, will also be found in Baker's Forms of PiiMic Address, 
See also in the same text, Phillips Brooks's speech on the Fourth 
of July delivered in Westminster Abbey. 

Do not put every suggestion on the plane of duty. 
There is surely occasion for preaching, for exhortation to 
duty ; yet we do well to limit this so far as we can without 
sacrificing definiteness of suggestion. One becomes in- 
different to duties when he is told of them too constantly ; 
as here in this college world, that it is one 's duty to sup- 
port every conceivable activity, to cultivate the acquaint- 
ance of all sorts of men, to saturate one's self with music, 
to read good books every available fifteen minutes, 
to attend the special lectures, to live, in short, an im- 
possibly strenuous life. One wonders why duty is the 
only motive appealed to, and why nothing is presented 
as a pleasure or an advantage. 



334 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

A speaker wishing to secure support for the children's gardens 
movement, began with our duty to the poor. Had he interested us 
in the children and the work that has been accomplished, his plea 
would have been more effective ; we might have wished to help, or 
even offered to help. A speaker, earnestly wishing to induce a group 
of students to interest themselves in the lonesome, detached members 
of the community, began with a vigorous denunciation of the gen- 
eral indifference. He improved his speech much by first setting be- 
fore us the situation, winning our sympathy by specific examples. 

We recognize that much depends upon the relation of 
a speaker to his audience. In the case just mentioned, a 
student speaking to students on student duty would be 
less likely to provoke a resisting spirit than would a 
member of the faculty. Sometimes a position of author- 
ity enables one to urge duty more acceptably ; sometimes 
less acceptably. We are more willing to take preaching 
from a preacher than from one without special license to 
urge duties upon us. We take it more kindly from the 
old than from the young. A speaker accepted by an 
audience as a friend or a trusted counselor can venture 
to give advice that would be resented coming from 
another. Yet the man of age and position is apt to speak 
with deference. A well developed sense ' ' of the general 
fitness of things" is a great asset to the speaker. 

Roosevelt's African and European Addresses furnishes a basis 
for an interesting study of tact, especially the speech before the Na- 
tional University at Cairo and the address at the Guildhall in Lon- 
don, in both of w^hich he attempts, with apparent success, to advise 
other peoples how to manage their affairs. 

It is folly to lay down precise rules. At times the most direct 
announcement possible or the most direct exhortation is best. We 
do not like manifest "beating about the bush." If a student speaker 
has as his purpose to raise money for an unfortunate fellow student, 
which will be more effective with you : to announce his purpose at 
once, or after describing the case? How will the occasion affect 
the problem? Suppose the occasion to be the banquet of a society 
to which the unfortunate does not belong? A class in public 
speaking? A meeting of the class or college to which the unfor- 
tunate does belong? 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 335 

Do not suppose that tact is necessary only when dealing with 
the especially bigoted. A college faculty is made up of men with 
more than average training in the open-minded consideration of 
prol)lems ; yet tact is needed in faculty meetings. Of a certain 
distinguished professor's speeches in faculty debates, a colleague 
says : *'We admired his diction, his logic, his splendid an-ange- 
ment ; and we had to admit that in his attacks upon certain student 
activities he was to a great extent right. But he was so tactless 
that he never won a vote. He spoke as in a vacuum. I have heard 
X [naming a scientist] say, *He was often right, but I never voted 
with him.' " As a result of long contact with scientists and schol- 
ars, I testify that, outside of their special fields, they reason more 
calmly, but only a little more calmly, than the ''average man." 

Tact calls for nice distinctions in the use of allusions 
and words. We have already noted the effect of unfortu- 
nate illustrations. Tactlessness is often due to the blun- 
dering of one of limited vocabulary, or of one who does 
not feel the difference between expressions; as, for 
example, between ive otight, and you ought, we are wrong 
and you are wrong, I have proved and I have tried to 
prove to you, I must confess that, when sitting as a 
debate judge, the expression, We shall prove absolutely 
and We have proved to you beyond a doubt, make me 
,scrutinize the arguments with severity. 
^y Sincerity. Nothing is so fatal to persuasion as the 
suspicion that the speaker is insincere; while sincerity 
on the part of the speaker prompts an open-minded, 
sincere attitude on the part of his audience. ^^One has 
only to examine the great speeches from Demosthenes 
to Webster to see how earnestly the orators in all parts 
of their work impressed their sincerity on their audiences ; 
one has but to consider the wrecked careers among orators 
to realize that sincerity is the chief essential of per- 
suasion. Without it all else, in the long run, goes for 
naught.''^ The commonness of the device, detestable 

1 Baker, Principles of Argumentation, p. 302. 



336 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

when dishonest, of charging hypocrisy against an oppo- 
nent, especially a political opponent, proves the impor- 
tance of a reputation for sincerity. If it be suspected 
that a speaker is for sale, ready to use his persuasive 
powers for any cause for a consideration, either money or 
position, or that he is advocating a public measure for 
the sake of his private interests, or that he is driven to 
one side or the other by pique, as when a man changes his 
party after failure to secure a nomination, at once his 
influence wanes. 

The best way to be believed sincere is to be sincere. 
This we considered in the chapter on emotion. The best 
way to resist unfair charges of insincerity is, by a course 
of fair dealing with one 's public, to build up such a repu- 
tation for sincerity as will of itself refute the charge. 
It is not often best to discuss one 's own sincerity unless 
one has been attacked on that score; as had Demos- 
thenes when he delivered his masterpiece, On the Crown, 
and Webster in the Captain Joseph White case. One 
may, if he feels it needed, set forth facts to prove his sin- 
cerity in any case, without specifically raising the issue. 

A speaker should not permit himself to declare as his 
belief what he does not believe. Apart from the question 
of common honesty, he cannot afford to develop the 
insincerity which is bound to show itself in the tones of 
his voice and in a hundred subtle ways ; just as it shows 
in the tones and manner of one who for a consider- 
able period has sold goods he does not believe in. I 
have occasionally found among young men a belief that a 
speaker has some peculiar license to misstate facts and to 
advocate views he does not hold. This is a most danger- 
ous doctrine, subversive of all integrity in public speech. 
Nor is this the view of his audience. They will agree 
with the fiery words of Demosthenes to ^schines: 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 337 

^'What greater crime can an orator be charged with than 
that his opinions and his language are not the same? 
Such is found to be your character. And yet you open 
your mouth and dare to look these men in the face. ' ' 

A '^ stump" speaker has no more license than others. 
Certainly he lowers his moral dignity if he permits him- 
self to be used as a mere mouthpiece. 

This question of sincerity arises in school and college debating. 
What is the position of a speaker assigned to the side he does not 
believe in? In the first place, the audience does not understand 
from the appearance of a speaker on one side of a school debate 
that he necessarily believes in that side ; rather that he is stating 
as well as he can the arguments for that side. There is no decep- 
tion. Is he then to be condemned, provided, he refrains from the 
conscious use of unsound arguments, misrepresentation of facts, and 
from declaring personal beliefs which are not genuine? In the 
second place, very rarely can such a student be said to have a con- 
viction upon such questions as are debated. He thinks he believes 
in the affirmative of the resolution, "A minimum wage should be 
established by law in New York." Put him on the negative and 
in a week he will wonder how he ever believed in the affirmative. 
Old or young, few of us have studied such questions enough to have 
a right to a conviction upon them. Usually these questions are well 
balanced ; there are good arguments on both sides. Many a student 
enters these debates with so little conviction that his choice of sides 
depends upon the first article he chances upon. Or, with the reso- 
lution instanced, he feels that he is for helping workers generally, 
but when he studies the subject he may be convinced that a mini- 
mum wage is not for the good of the workers. I have too often 
changed these so-called convictions with three minutes of talk, to 
take them seriously. In the third place, the debater who has looked 
at but one side of a question is benefited, both as a debater and 
as a thinker, by being compelled to consider with care the other 
side. Until he has done this he has no right to a conviction. As 
a result of considering both sides he may, after the debate is over, 
arrive at a genuine belief. The method may not be ideal, but it 
leads students into a study of problems so much more sincere than 
the study of the average man, and of the average undergraduate, 
that it must be advocated as a good. The very few who have real 
convictions in advance can be accommodated. I should hesitate to 
ask a student to speak against the side he genuinely believes in, 
even in a school debate ; for the temptations are strong. It must 



S3S PUBLIC SPEAKING 

be admitted that student debaters are at times insincere in their 
debating, just as they are elsewhere. But when Mr. Roosevelt con- 
demns debating, of which he admits he has no direct knowledge, 
as teaching insincerity, he ought, to be consistent, to stop encourag- 
ing young men to enter politics, where the temptation to accept and 
to advocate all of a party platform is far greater and more insidious 
than the temptations of debating. Is it not well that young men 
should meet such temptations iSrst under the direction of teachers 
rather than of bosses? 

Earnestness- Those who say that sincerity is the 
chief essential of persuasion must include in the word 
the idea of earnestness. The two words overlap but do 
not coincide. A man may be sincere in his indifference. 
Earnestness involves seriousness and ardor. An audi- 
ence will forgive a speaker almost any lack, if he is mani- 
festly in earnest about his proposal. If he is not really 
in earnest, there seems to be small reason why we should 
trouble ourselves; if he seems to care very much there 
is reason to suppose his cause worthy attention. Earnest- 
ness moves our emotions, thaws our indifference, and gives 
us the faith which a leader must create. ^^No one can 
give faith," says Matthew Arnold, '' unless he has faith; 
the persuaded persuade." 

We like earnestness, even when we smile at its excesses. 
Of course, desperate earnestness is not expected on all 
possible proposals, upon the grading of a street as well 
as upon the removal of a moral nuisance; but whenever 
one attempts persuasion there is expected the degree of 
earnestness befitting the subject. And an audience will 
rarely complain that their speaker is too earnest about 
his cause, though they may complain that he takes him- 
self too seriously. Of course, we should not confuse 
earnestness with mere noise and redness of face ; and on 
the other hand, we should not suppress earnestness for 
fear of making a noise or of getting red in the face. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 339 

A cynical habit is bad for a speaker. Sneering or flip- 
pant speech may amuse for a moment, but it quickly 
chills an audience. It destroys the sincere, positive, ear- 
nest tone which rouses and warms. Often, too, he who 
indulges in cynical speech permits himself to be unfair 
and to sacrifice truth to smartness. Unfortunately, 
many, especially in college communities, cultivate the 
habit of cynical speech, a habit hard to break. 

Persuasion is not trickery. There are those w^ho feel 
that consideration of the methods of persuasion is not 
consistent with sincerity, and who especially complain 
that when we talk of tactful ways of dealing with an 
audience, we are following the example of the ancient 
Sophists, who seem to have conceived of rhetoric as the 
art of making the worse appear the better reason, of 
making fallacy plausible, and of leading men against 
their judgments. There is no doubt that many of the 
suggestions of this and the preceding chapter, and indeed 
the whole art of public speaking, may lend themselves 
to unworthy ends. AYhen Aristotle begins his Rhetoric 
he recognizes that the art has been prostituted by Sophists 
to the ends of falsehood and injustice, and makes a de- 
fense of his undertaking. I quote from Professor Jebb 's 
summary : 

^'Rhetoric is useful, first of all, because truth and jus- 
tice are naturally stronger than their opposites. When 
awards are not duly given, truth and justice must have 
been worsted by their own fault. [That is to say, be- 
cause they have not been as well represented as false- 
hood and injustice.] But what if it be urged that this 
art may be abused? The objection, Aristotle answers, 
applies to all good things, except virtues, and especially 
to the most useful things. Men may abuse strength, 
health, wealth, generalship." 



540 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

This is no academic question to be discussed in a 
philosophic vacuum ; it relates to one of the most practical 
phases of human life, the influencing of men in their 
everyday relations, large and small. We shall do well 
to remind ourselves again that the ethical questions 
which arise are essentially the same whether we are on 
or off the platform. On or off, persuasion may be at- 
tempted by unfair or dishonest means, or for unworthy 
ends. But no man is entitled to criticize a public 
speaker for using persuasive skill, for adapting his plea 
to the given audience, unless he himself is quite as ready 
to refer to Jefferson Davis as a traitor in Mississippi 
as in IMassachusetts, to tell the man from whom he solicits 
a subscription that he is a skinflint, to remind his middle- 
aged hostess of her years, to introduce a speaker as an 
unknown from whom the chairman knows not what to 
expect, and in general refuses to use tact to oil the hinges 
of everyday intercourse. However much we may con- 
demn the insincerity of some social customs, we all recog- 
nize that in social intercourse a degree of tact is even a 
virtue. In private persuasion, too, we all recognize that 
to adapt our argument to the one addressed, is wise and 
justifiable. 

No clear line can be drawn between right and wrong 
in the matter of persuasive methods. The honest man 
will be on his guard, on the platform or off, and will 
endeavor to keep a goodly distance on the right side of 
such a wavering line as an enlightened conscience may 
reveal. He will not wish to have or to deserve a reputa- 
tion for trickiness. He will not seek to deceive his 
audience concerning his convictions, or practise that half 
suppression which amounts to deception. 

But honesty does not demand that we speak all our 
mind or tell all the truth all the time. Even the oath 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 341 

to ''tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the 
truth," is not held to mean that a witness must tell all 
he knows regardless of its relevancy to the issue. Hon- 
esty does not require that we arouse a man's opposition 
on all subjects when we wish to persuade him in regard 
to one ; that we antagonize his race pride when we only 
want him to vote for a cleaner city. A young speaker 
while discussing the relations of employers and em- 
ployees, went out of his way to sneer at church members. 
When criticized for giving unnecessary offense to many 
just employers, he replied with a rebuking air, ''I say 
what I think!" Had his theme been the shortcomings 
of church members in regard to the labor problem, it 
would have been quite a different matter. It is often a 
speaker's duty to tell his audience unpalatable truth, and 
then he should speak fearlessly. But even then, if he is 
really eager to gain acceptance for his truth, he will not 
be heedless of how he approaches his audience. The man 
both honest and just will not fail to observe that, while 
there are times for words like clubs or the ^'whip of small 
cords," there are more times for kindlier fhethods. He 
will never be willing to confuse honesty with discourtesy, 
egotism, or bigotry. The man who combines honesty 
with sympathetic understanding of others, and earnest- 
ness of conviction with tolerance, will be both sincere and 
tactful. 

To those troubled over this matter, and I am not sorry there are 
such, I commend the speeches of Paul as reported in the Acts of the 
Apostles. When one remembers the sternness with which he ut- 
tered rebukes, and remembers the sufferings, even unto death, which 
he endured for his convictions, one will hardly accuse Paul of being 
an insincere trickster. Yet he was one of the most persuasive of 
speakers. The largest elements in his persuasion, no doubt, were 
the faith, the convictions and the character of the man ; but skill 
was not lacking. The Authorized Version of the Bible makes Paul 



342 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

begin his address to the Athenians : i *'Ye men of Athens, I per- 
ceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed 
by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscrip- 
tion, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly wor- 
ship, him declare I unto you." Certainly this would not have been 
tactful before those Athenians, proud of their culture ; but we 
have better sense and better persuasion if we adopt the transla- 
tion of the noted Biblical scholars, Conybeare and Howson : 2 "All 
things which I behold bear witness to your carefulness in religion. 
. . . Whom, therefore, ye worship, though ye know Him not. Him 
declare I unto you." A cutting criticism becomes an approach to 
a common ground. 

Paul goes on to speak of the God who ^'hath made of one blood 
all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, . . . that 
they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and 
find him, though he be not far from every one of us : For in him 
we live and move and have our being ; as certain also of your own 
poets have said. For we are also his offspring." The reference to 
an Athenian altar, the reminder of the kinship of all races, the 
quotation from their poet, and the unusually philosophic tone of 
the speech as a whole, were all attempts to w^in a favorable hearing. 

Read also Paul's speech before Agrippa. He came before Agrippa 
as a prisoner to make his defense : *'I think myself happy. King 
Agrippa, because I am to answer for myself this day before thee 
touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews : especially 
because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which 
are among the Jews : wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently." 
Some one has pointed out that Paul paid Agrippa, one of the most 
dissolute rulers of his time, almost the only honest compliment pos- 
sible. It was Paul who said, "I am become all things to all men, 
that I may by some means save some" ; that is, he adapted himself 
to his hearers. But he never compromised his message, never adul- 
terated the truth, and never flinched from plain speaking. 

Persuasion is good or bad as we make it. It is right 
to persuade men if it is right to influence and lead them. 
Who has spoken with more glowing approval of the power 
of the orator than Emerson ? I should not dare go so far : 

''That which he wishes, that which eloquence ought 
to reach, is, not a particular skill in telling a story, or 

lActs, 17:22. 

2 Life and Epistles of St. Paul, Vol. I, p, 445. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 343 

neatly summing up evidence, or arguing logically, or 
dexterously addressing the prejudice of a company, — 
but a taking sovereign possession of the audience. Him 
we call an artist, who shall play on an assembly of men 
as a master on the ke3^s of a piano, — who, seeing the peo- 
ple furious, shall soften and compose them, shall draw 
them, when he will, to laughter and to tears. Bring him 
to his audience, and, be they who they may, — coarse or 
refined, pleased or displeased, sulky or savage, with their 
opinions in the keeping of a confessor, or with their opin- 
ions in their bank-safes, — he will have them pleased and 
humored as he chooses ; and they shall carry and execute 
that which he bids them. ' ' 

Making the impression enduring. We should bring 
together here certain ideas from the preceding discussion 
of persuasion, which bear upon the problem of maintain- 
ing belief and affecting conduct in the future, after the 
personal influence of the speaker and the impulse of the 
occasion have faded. The speaker may wish to control 
the action of his hearers at some time, days, months or 
years after his speech ; or he may wish to start them on a 
course to be continued for a long period ; as when he is 
urging a student body to give steady support to athletics, 
or when a preacher urges righteous living. In either 
ease the task is more difficult than when the action aimed 
at is immediate. No sure solution of this problem is pos- 
sible, but some suggestion can be made. 

The problem is still that of attention. Pillsbury,^ after 
stating that voluntary action is the result of attention, 
says that the remote act is the same as the immediate, 
^^ except that the movements are delayed to await an 
appropriate immediate stimulus in another set of cir- 
cumstances. ... It is decided, for example, that if 
sufficient money is available one university will be at- 

'^ Attention^ p. 160. 



344 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

tended, if not another will be chosen. . . . The de- 
cision acts at once to control and influence later atten- 
tion." That is, if you induce a man to-day to deter- 
mine that if it rains next Friday night he will go fishing 
with you Saturday morning, when the rain comes he 
gives no attention to any other course than going fishing. 
Sometimes, Pillsbury says, 'Hhe decision may even act 
in advance to make attention at the moment practically 
unnecessary." That could hardly be in so important a 
matter as going to college; nor can we make sure that 
when the moment for action comes, attention will not turn 
to alternative actions; for example, we could not make 
sure that the young man desirous of going to a certain 
university, would give over all thoughts of it, even 
though sufficient funds were not forthcoming. He might 
yield to the temptation to go there anyhow. An adviser 
who in July wishes to make sure that the young man will 
follow the more prudent course in September, will en- 
deavor to impress the reasons for that course upon the 
young man's memory so that they will persist and will 
surely recur at the moment of final decision. 

Now we are told that impressions persist according 
to their primacy^ frequency^ recency and vividness. 
Of primacy little is to be said, except that the adviser 
will make it a point, if possible, to impress his views 
before other views are fixed. Recency is the one element 
that is lacking when we consider future action; but 
the term suggests the desirability of renewing one's 
advice near the time of final decision. Frequency we 
have often emphasized in terms of repetition ; and vivid- 
ness in our discussions of imagery and concrete, specific 
and pungent phraseology. 

We see again, also, the importance of sound argument, 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 34^5 

that will stand the test of later examination and hostile 
attack. The farther we are looking into the future, the 
less we can depend upon suggestion, personal influence, 
or enthusiasm, and the more we must depend upon con- 
viction. Particularly do we need to fix in the minds of 
our hearers arguments that are clear, simple and readily 
remembered. That adherent is not very firmly attached 
to your cause who can only say when challenged, ^'Well, 
I remember that when I heard the argument I was con- 
vinced, but I cannot remember it now"; or, ''I do not 
quite understand it now." Brutus 's speech was good 
while it lasted, but it was not of a character to stick in 
mind; and Antony's more vivid speech drove it from 
attention. 

Again, the keener the interests with which a proposal 
and the arguments for it are associated, the better they 
will cling; and the larger the number of these interests 
the more likely they are to be suggested again and again 
to the hearer's mind. Motives should be enlisted which 
are strong and also which are constant with those per- 
suaded, — their everyday working motives and not merely 
those that are awakened by special inspiration. The de- 
sired action should be thoroughly associated with custom- 
ary modes of action and with fundamental beliefs, which 
are themselves fixed and persistent. 

Much reliance must be placed upon the '^set" of mind 
established, upon the mood of conviction. Arguments, 
precedents and authorities can be used to create the feel- 
ing that the proposed course is sound, correct, respect- 
able, safe, noble, whatever is desirable ; while the alterna- 
tive course and the arguments for it can be made to 
appear unsound, unsafe, ignoble, associated with un- 
worthy persons and despised courses,— in general, given 



346 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

a character which will cause them to be hustled out when 
they presume again to present themselves at the ante- 
chamber of consciousness. 

It will be seen from the preceding that the emotional 
attitude established is of high importance. It is a mis- 
take to suppose, what is often asserted or intimated, that 
a conviction established by pure logical argument will 
persist longer than one which is supported by emotion. 
The strongest conviction rests upon both reason and emo- 
tion. Provided the emotional attitude toward a given 
action or belief persists, reasons will usually be found to 
support it, though the original reasons have faded from 
memory. 

In particular, the ^^wish to believe" should be given 
enduring strength. If one can awaken a persistent de-^ 
sire, one may be confident that it will ^^tend to maintain 
the idea of its object or end at the focus of conscious- 
ness.''^ 

Emotions fade, but "when the emotion has run its course, there is 
often left a permanent residue . . . that may be designated as a 
mood. This mood may be vague and uncertain, ... or definite and 
clear. In the latter instance it may be termed an 'emotionalized 
prejudice' ; that is, a predisposition to act in certain characteristic 
ways in the presence of an object around which center marked feel- 
ing values. Prejudices of this sort are easily found in politics, 
morality and religion. When once formed they are extremely dif- 
ficult to overcome." 2 It should be said that the writers of this 
extract give no sinister meaning to the term prejudice. To them a 
prejudice may be either good or bad. They add : "Not only may 
a mood be the result of an emotionalized upheaval ; it m-ay become 
the starting point of a new expression of the emotion." Applying 
this statement to our work, if one awakens a strong emotion in 
his hearers, which results in a mood, that emotion will readily be 
awakened again by the circumstances with which it has been as- 
sociated. 

1 See quotation from McDougall at p. 196. 

2 Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, p. 84. 



PERSUASION AND BELIEF 347 

We have before noted the value of inducing one's hear- 
ers to commit themselves at once, v^hen the principal 
action desired is in the future, so enlisting on one's side 
the force of inertia which keeps men moving in courses 
once begun, reluctance to break with associations once 
formed, and also the pride which makes us reluctant to 
appear inconsistent. 

Work to do. It is assumed, of course, that the student 
of this chapter will take his opportunities to apply the 
principles in persuasive speeches, particularly those which 
seek to overcome active opposition. He may also profit 
by studying speeches of the orators. For his present 
purpose those speeches are best which have sprung from 
historical crises. Eliot's Delates, containing the pro- 
ceedings of the conventions that in the various states first 
adopted the National Constitution; the debates of Web- 
ster and Hayne and Webster and Calhoun on the issue of 
Nullification, and the Lincoln-Douglas debates, are well 
adapted to the purpose. Speeches of to-day, concerning 
matters great and small, will prove suggestive; but the 
historic contests can be better grasped because of the work 
which historians and literary men have put upon them. 
The student should give much attention to the occasions 
of the speeches studied, and give fair attention to both 
sides. He should read with care the brilliant speech of 
Hayne as well as the famous Reply; the arguments of 
Douglas as well as those of Lincoln. 

Perhaps the best single study will be found in Bouton's The Lin- 
coln and Douglas Debates, which contains four complete debates of 
the series, the Springfield and the Cooper Union speeches of Lincoln, 
and a good introduction and notes. Harding's Select Orations II- 
lustratitig American History is an excellent work, though there is 
too much abbreviation of speeches. Weljster^s Great Speeches con- 
tains a good selection of his works, and is especially valuable as in- 
cluding Whipple's essay on Webster as a Master of English Style, 



348 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Webster's complete works fill many volumes, edited by Edward 
Everett. But in studying his great debates go to Delates and Pro- 
ceedings in Congress, or to Benton's abbreviation of the Congres- 
sional debates. 

Conclusion. After all this discussion of persuasion, 
I have to say that the subject is by no means exhausted. 
It is as large as human nature. It is a subject that grows 
upon one with experience. I have not tried to fix dog- 
matic rules for a subject of such complexity. My hope 
is that the student will acquire such an interest that he 
will continue the study, and such a grasp of principles 
that he can make his study profitable. The study will by 
no means be confined to books and speeches, but will force 
itself upon the attention of one interested, in every rela- 
tion of life. The principles given can be tested and 
elaborated by your own experiences, in influencing others, 
and in being influenced by others. You can study per- 
suasion in your relations with those with whom you have 
dealings, — with those in authority over you, with those 
over whom you have authority, and with those with whom 
you must cooperate. You can learn a lesson from the 
advertisement, the business letter, the gentleman who 
solicits your subscription for a book 'or a charity, the 
candidate who seeks your vote, the student leader who 
would arouse ''college spirit," as well as from every 
movement and every propagandist of the time. 



CHAPTER X 

SELECTING THE SUBJECT 

Selecting the topic is sometimes the most difficult 
part of making a speech. The speaker in court, in the 
legislature or the convention, and, to a great extent, in 
the pulpit, finds his theme prescribed for him. The 
theme of the so-called occasional address, also, may be 
dictated with more or less definiteness by the occasion; 
as at a dedication or a celebration. But there are times 
when the occasion permits such wide latitude that one 
feels at a loss; and there are times when the demand is 
simply for a speech, and the chairman of the committee 
on arrangements says with the utmost generosity, ^^Oh, 
just anything at all!" The problems that arise from 
such a situation, and some which are common to all oc- 
casions, call for consideration. The student in a speaking 
class especially needs some suggestions. 

Instead of mooning about with the vague question, 
What in the world can I speak about? the seeker after 
a bright idea should put to himself certain questions 
which will define his possibilities. 

1. Does the occasion suggest an appropriate theme? 
Little needs to be said under this head except that we 
should avoid violently wrenching an occasion or a theme 
from its natural trend, or disappointing the expectations 
of an audience. For example, if an audience has gath- 
ered to do honor to a man, they may resent, or at least 
bis friends may resent, your failure to render due honor 

349 



350 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

to him. A Founder's Day celebration at which no 
mention is made of the founder does not please his 
descendants. The less personal the feeling of one's 
hearers for the hero, the greater the liberty allowed in 
theme and treatment. Washington's birthday has be- 
come merely a patriotic holiday ; but we can hardly say 
the same of Lincoln 's birthday. Again, an audience may 
come together because they wish to hear a certain theme 
discussed, either because it is the theme of the hour, or 
because they particularly wish to hear the speaker of the 
occasion on that theme. One may have good reason for 
refusing to meet the expectation of his audience, but it 
is not lightly to be ignored. 

If the first question must be answered in the negative, 
one should then ask, 

2. Is there an appropriate subject in which I am 
interested, and in which I can interest my audience? 
The student who cannot think of an interesting theme is 
a common figure in classes in public speaking. If he will 
go to his instructor in time, instead of taking Capital 
Punishment at the last moment, there may be help for 
him. It is usually unwise to assign a topic ; for he is too 
likely to accept it without real interest. ' ' What are you 
interested in ? " inquires the instructor. The astonishing 
answer often given, ^'Nothing," really means, nothing 
that will do for a speech. The student's interests are so 
near him often, that he cannot see them ; or so familiar 
that he assumes no one would care to hear of them. 

''What are you studying?" is the next query. Per- 
haps economics is the student's present interest. There 
are, of course, no end of topics for speeches in that field ; 
such as labor questions, socialism, or the single tax. All 
are too large for short speeches, but they admit of sub- 
division. Political science suggests numerous topics; 



SELECTING THE SUBJECT 351 

such as the initiative, the recall, city managers, bossism, 
and Tammany Hall. Social science is even more fruitful 
of good topics: the problems of philanthropy and social 
welfare, — college settlements, playgrounds, junior repub- 
lics, summer camps, prison reforms, eugenics, etc. His- 
tory presents many themes which can be related to 
present-day problems, and many characters of high 
interest. Literature, especially the drama and the novel ; 
the law, engineering, agriculture, — in fact, every field of 
study offers something, if only one can recognize it. 

One student gloomily told me that his specialty was Latin, and 
no one could get a topic out of Latin. "But why are you studying 
Latin in this age and place?" he was asked. "Are you not ridi- 
culed by your friends who are so wise and practical about chemicals 
and engines?" He made a speech which was at least as wise as the 
average faculty debate on educational problems ; and he commanded 
interest. To a despairing law student was told how a class had an- 
swered the question, "How many prospective lawyers here?" with 
"None; we are all honest!" He was stirred to a speech on the 
ethics of law, — a theme which usually arouses the interest of both 
lawyers and laymen. Laymen like to hear, also, of certain law 
problems that arise in ordinary affairs, or are discussed in the pa- 
pers, such as injunctions. 

Unless a student, however, has done a considerable 
amount of work in the field from which he proposes to 
draw a topic, there is little hope that he will have gotten 
his bearings in it, found out who the authorities are, 
what men have thought about it, w^hat theories are ex- 
ploded and what proved sound, will have assimilated the 
matter and determined his beliefs, to such an extent that 
he can deal wdth it justly. He will do much better with 
a topic from a study taken last year than from one quite 
new to him. A student submitted socialism as a theme, 
saying he was just beginning a course in the subject. It 
was evident his ideas were of the vaguest, else he would 
not have thought to present so large a topic in five 



352 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

minutes. It should be further observed, by one taking a 
theme from class work, that to give a mere resume of 
lectures is not very profitable as training ; since the search 
for and arrangement of material is an important part of 
our work, and public speaking is the expression of one's 
own opinions; and also that such a procedure is not 
honorable when an original speech has been called for. 

My own classes usually begin with campus topics; 
that is, subjects that are or ought to be discussed among 
students. These have certain advantages: the speakers 
have first-hand knowledge of these subjects; and they 
and their hearers have keen interest in them. These 
themes tend to keep the beginner from assuming strange 
tones and poses, and help him to come into touch with his 
audience. A student addressing students upon student 
interests does not feel that the rituation is abnormal. 
And it is a good thing for students to study the problems 
of their campus life, upon which they often have preju- 
dices rather than information and reasoned beliefs. 

The vices of campus topics lie close to their virtues. 
Too often students feel that no search for material and no 
thinking is needed on these themes, and that it is not 
worth while to treat them with care or present them with 
dignity and effectiveness. They too rarely get at the 
principles involved by thorough analysis. The difficulty 
is plainly more in the treatment than in the topics. But 
inasmuch as campus topics do not as a rule furnish much 
development, it proves best to limit their use, once a 
class is well launched, to those instances in which there 
is reason to believe that thorough-going work will be 
done ; and on those terms we have some strong speeches. 

Some of the best of our recent speeches at Cornell, winning ora- 
tions in fact, have been upon such topics as College "Activities," 
and **What is College for?" Topics that have proved good in class 



SELECTING THE SUBJECT S5S 

are: Should the University control boarding houses? To what 
extent is the University responsible for the lives of its students? 
The honor system (in its various forms), Co-education, Profes- 
sional coaches, Summer baseball, *'^Yet" banquets, Theory and 
practice in professional courses. Should ''bread-and-butter" courses 
be given in the Arts College? The four-year residence requirement, 
Working one's way through college. Any one of these, though 
they may be treated very superficially, permits of high-class work, in 
getting at the facts, in finding foundation principles, and in meet- 
ing the views and prejudices of the audience. 

One speaker's vice which is peculiarly noticeable in 
speeches on campus topics is that of ^'carrying coals to 
Newcastle." That is, the student speaker proceeds to 
retail facts and ideas which are the commonest of table 
talk, as if telling something new. But the fault is less 
a matter of topic than of failure to work. A student 
wished to speak on the seemingly threadbare topic, Our 
need of dormitories. This question was put to him, 
''Why don't we have dormitories? All agree we need 
them, and the University has funds that might be used." 
He began an investigation. University publications 
offered little ; so he went to the treasurer, who gave him 
the facts ascertained by a committee of the trustees. The 
student came back convinced that the trustees would not 
be justified in using the funds of the University for 
dormitories, which would make but a small financial 
return, and that we must wait for gifts. He made the 
only speech of the many I have heard on the subject 
that was worth making. 

There are questions of immediate interest to students 
which are not strictly campus topics. One of the best 
speeches I have heard recently was on the proposition 
that students should not do summer canvassing. Many 
of the speaker's auditors had done canvassing and re- 
sented his strictures. The situation was very real and 
somewhat exciting. Answers were forthcoming. The 



354^ PUBLIC SPEAKING 

speaker had simply gotten hold of a common ethical prob- 
lem as it related itself to the experience of his audience. 
One on the hunt for a topic will do well to consider if 
he has had any unique experiences, or has known any 
interesting characters, or has lived in a place of peculiar 
interest. 

A student replied to my random questioning that his home was 
in Cleveland. *'What do you know of Tom Johnson?" *'0h, I 
know a lot about him ; I am related to his family.'* "Interesting 
man, was he not?" '*I should think so!" *'Well, anybody who 
knows Tom Johnson and what he did ought not to lack for sub- 
jects. By the way, how about your 'Golden Rule' chief of police?" 
The student grinned. "Why, I never thought of those things. 
Had no idea what to talk about. Got two or three subjects now." 
He was never again at a loss. 

Another student who had failed to find a good topic in a whole 
term, threw himself on my mercy. All my probing came to naught. 
He had had no special experiences. His home town was common- 
place. As an afterthought he remarked that he had spent most of 
his winters in Charleston, South Carolina. Now, what could be 
more interesting to a Northern audience than the first-hand in- 
formation he had about the life of that once belligerent city? He 
knew old confederate majors and old plantation negroes ; his family 
from ante-bellum daj^s had owned a plantation near the city, on 
which could be studied many of the South's problems. He knew 
the Northern point of view and the Southern ; yet he did not want 
to talk of the South or her problems, he said, because he did not 
know enough about them ! He would have tackled, on the slightest 
encouragement, the currency bill or the revolution in China, but 
. he did not know enough of the South. His first reaction was, 
when urged to speak of the South, "Where can I find material?" 
In a way he was right ; he did not know enough. But he was urged 
to arrange first his own facts, impressions and opinions ; and then 
to read widely, including the work of men of many casts of opinion 
about Southern problems. A large undertaking ; but then he had a 
fine opportunity to produce some splendid speeches. He did not 
need to do all at once ; but could have })egun on a course that would 
have developed such a fund of material and ideas, that he would 
never have been at loss for a popular theme in later years. 

A conventional conception of public speaking some- 
times causes one to overlook good subjects; such as those 



SELECTING THE SUBJECT 355 

pertaining to business, machinery, and in general to how 
things are done. Business methods and business can be 
made both interesting and profitable. Popular science 
and machines and manufactures often offer good sugges- 
tions. The advantages and disadvantages of certain 
types of engines, or of tires, are of interest in this motor- 
ing age. How to make automobile tires, Diesel engines, 
the production of certified milk, have proved interesting 
topics when handled by students who really knew whereof 
they spoke. 

]\Iany students come to feel that in the long run they 
are more benefitted by working upon the economic, polit- 
ical and social questions of the day, because they think 
they learn more of permanent worth. Certainly it is 
well that students should take more interest in the ques- 
tions of the day than most of them do; but a judicious 
mixture of subjects seems best. 

The chief moral of these remarks is : Look about you 
and look in yourself for topics. Get your eyes open for 
them, and you will find more topics than opportunities for 
speaking. There is a speech in almost any subject, if 
you know how to get it out ; though it may not be worth 
while to get it out in every case. 

The case is not hopeless even for one who can find no 
suitable interest existing in his mind. If he will make up 
bis mind to do genuine work upon some subject which 
he feels he ought to understand, he may gain benefit 
from the study, as well as make a fairly good speech. 
Let him go to the periodicals and look for suggestions; 
but not to find an article that will furnish him all needed 
material. He should use his wits upon the material, 
utilizing the directions of Chapter IV. 

Or one may take a notable book as his starting point. 
The book will be worth reading for its own sake ; and if 



356 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

it serves, as it should, to cause its reader to do some 
independent thinking, he will not only have something 
to say, but a genuine desire to say it. Books written by 
authorities, but in a semi-popular vein, are best for the 
purpose. Many such are suggested to a student in his 
various courses. One seeking suggestions in some special 
field, as engineering, law, or agriculture, may ask 
specialists in those subjects what are the notable books 
that might prove stimulating. 

A few books will be suggested here : Bryce's American Com- 
monwealth, Lowell's Public Opinion and Popular Government^ 
Lippmann's Preface to Politics, Fiske's American Political Ideals, 
Belloc and Chesterton's The Party System, Roosevelt's AutoMogra- 
phy, McCall's Thomas Brackett Reed, Brande's Ferdinand Lassalle, 
Thayer's Life and Times of Cavoiir, von Buelow's Imperial Ger- 
many, Dawson's Germany and the Germans, Birrell's Obiter Dicta, 
Conklin's Heredity and Environment, Schreiner's Woman and La- 
hor, George's The Intelligence of Women, Vallery-Radot's Life of 
Pasteur, Essays in American History Dedicated to Frederick 
Turner (Read first the essay on Kansas), Chesterton's Heretics, 
Rice's College and the Future, Fitch's The College Course and 
Preparation for Life, Eliot's The Training for an Effective Life, 
Fulton's College Life: Its Conditions and Problems. (See list of 
"Reference Works" at the back of this book.) 

Certain plays and novels, read thoughtfully, may provoke re- 
actions that will serve as impulses to speak ; for example : Ibsen's 
Ghosts and his Enemy of the People, Shaw's The Doctor's Di- 
lemma, Galsworthy's Justice, Barker's The Voysey Inheritance, 
Butler's Erewhon, Meredith's Evan Harrington and his Ordeal of 
Richard Feverel, Wells' Mr, Britling Sees It Through, 

Mind you, this is a ^^last ditch" method of finding a 
subject. The best topics will come out of the speaker's 
experience, — in the broad sense of the term, — out of what 
he has been doing, observing, reading, thinking, before 
the search for a subject began. 

This ^^ working up" of a subject is, of course, not pos- 
sible for one who puts his choice of a subject off till the 
last moment. There must be time, not only for gathering 



SELECTING THE SUBJECT 357 

material, but also for assimilation. Ordinarily we can- 
not expect good results unless a speaker in choosing his 
subject two weeks in advance (which is the minimum 
time he should allow himself), has already a good deal 
of knowledge and interest in regard to it. 

3. What purpose do I wish to accomplish? So far we 
have assumed that the speaker has no purpose beyond 
interesting ; but generally he will wish to inform, convince 
or persuade. As Genung has said,^ the speaker chooses 
an object rather than a subject; and then he chooses a 
theme that will serve his object. A stump speaker, for 
example, has as his object the winning of votes; but he 
may choose any one of many topics to serve his purpose, — 
the tariff, the woolen schedule, control of corporations, 
which party has the worst bosses, or economy. Even 
when a speaker's general theme is prescribed by the 
occasion, he still may make the theme serve his own 
purposes. Thus on Lincoln's birthday, one may honor 
Lincoln's memory while using his authority to support 
a policy, or to condemn the party he helped to found. 
George William Curtis was able to grace with his oratory 
all sorts of conventional occasions, such as dedications, 
commencements and the banquets of societies, and at the 
same time to preach most effectively a high type of 
patriotism and civic righteousness. Without a serious 
purpose occasional addresses are likely to be bombastic, 
dreary or absurd affairs. The Gettysburg Address is 
masterful in the way Lincoln makes his more evident 
and his more serious purposes serve each other. 

In considering purpose, the speaker may well ask him- 
self if there is any object to be served by discussing the 
topic under consideration before the prospective audi- 
ence. Speeches in my classes which urge the need of 

1 Practical Rhetoric, p. 258. 



358 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

a new gymnasium and this and that change in admin- 
istration, would be much more appropriate if they could 
be addressed to the trustees or the faculty. But this is 
fully as much a question of the adaptation of material 
as of choice of topic. 

A student offered this for his first speech : The student help 

at the cafeteria should have a rebate on their meals. He was 

interested and oblivious of the fact that we had nothing to do with 
the matter. His next offering was, Why our glee club is so success- 
ful. The speech turned out, as feared, only a glorification of a lo- 
cal institution, — a poor speech because there was nothing to ac- 
complish. 

4. Is the topic congruous with the mood of the occa- 
sion? This is also largely a matter of treatment, but 
it is evident that some topics are too heavy or somber, 
and some too light for certain occasions; and that an 
attempt to adapt them would produce absurdity or worse. 

5. Will my audience wish to hear this topic discussed 
by me? This has been suflSciently considered in Chap- 
ter VI. 

6. Can the topic be properly treated in the allotted 
time? Most subjects can be treated briefly or at great 
length; but some suffer greatly in a brief discussion. 
Some topics require much preliminary explanation with a 
given audience, and some depend for their force upon a 
wealth of detail, as is the case with a speech intended to 
impress the audience with the character of a person. 

There may be times when it is important to cover a 
whole broad topic in a speech ; but usually it is best to 
confine one's self to a subdivision which can be fairly 
treated in the time allowed. Yet only with the greatest 
difficulty can some be made to believe that it is better to 
give a thorough treatment of one idea, make one point 
''stick," than to give a cursory treatment of many points. 
There is a natural desire to tell all one knows of an inter- 



SELECTING THE SUBJECT 359 

esting subject, and a liking for completeness. If one has 
proved an evil, he feels that he ought to set forth a 
remedy. And there is a less worthy reason in the fact 
that it is easier to give a superficial treatment of a large 
topic, such as socialism, than a thoroughgoing treatment 
of one phase. So we have many speeches in which many 
points are touched but all left in confusion, many motives 
are mentioned but none pressed home, and in w^hich 
neither evil nor remedy is established. 

In trying to meet the very real difficulties imposed by 
the limits of time, when one wishes to speak on a topic 
which requires elaboration, one should consider the par- 
ticular audience, and ask himself what it can be depended 
upon to know, what its points of view are, and what it 
believes. Perhaps the audience in a given case can be 
depended upon to agree that the evil exists. Then after 
a brief statement to put the subject definitely before them, 
the speaker can proceed at once to the remedy. Perhaps 
there is one argument which will draw others with it; 
or one motive that is all sufficient. 

7. Is the topic too difficult for oral presentation under 
the circumstances? Subjects may be too intricate and 
difficult for oral presentation, especially when there is 
little time, or when the audience is not well informed. 
Some philosophical and scientific questions are not avail- 
able before general audiences; though much depends 
upon the skill of the speaker, as is evidenced by Huxley's 
lectures on Evolution. I may instance the following as 
topics upon which speakers have failed because of inher- 
ent difficulties: The gyroscope compass. The fourth 
dimension, Non-Euclidean geometry. The crawl stroke 
in swimming. 

Topics suggested. Now that we have some general 
ideas on the choice of themes for speeches, we may profit 



360 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

by a list of topics, though such a list can be only sug- 
gestive. There is no intention that students shall confine 
themselves to this list ; nor is it expected that they will 
find in many instances that the subjects as stated are 
exactly suited to their use. In the first place, no two 
minds work just alike and what one has found good may 
not suit another ; and in the second place, many of these 
topics are much too broadly stated. They are put in 
merely to suggest possible fields, and should be much 
limited. The chief hope in giving this list is to make 
the student react by thinking of some kindred topic 
which is what he needs. The list will do more harm than 
good if it is made a substitute for independent thinking. 
The classification is very loose; and many of the topics 
will fall in one or another class according to treatment. 
Two final suggestions : Do not look for perfection in a 
subject. Remember, a pretty good topic in time is better 
than an ideal topic that is found too late for good prep- 
aration. And do not look rapidly over several pages of 
topics, dwelling upon none. A student said to me the 
other day : ^ ' I have looked over two pages of your sug- 
gested topics and haven't found one I could talk on five 
minutes. ' ' Of course not ; for he did not dwell upon any 
long enough to get to thinking about it and to see what 
its possibilities were. Find the group that seems most 
promising, and then go over it slowly, making a little 
analysis of any topic that seems at all promising. Less 
looking and more thinking is needed 

CAMPUS TOPICS 

The honor system : (One of these phases.) The moral question 
involved. What is "cribbing''? The pure honor system. The 
system with machinery for enforcement. Should students under 
an honor system be required to report cheating? Should they be 
required to place a pledge upon their examination papers? Should 
there be one system for all the colleges of a university? Should 



SELECTING THE SUBJECT 361 

the honor system be extended to include compositions, reports, etc.? 
Does the presence of a proctor in any way justify cheating? The 
student's sense of honor. May a student ever conscientiously help 
another during an examination? 

The upperclassmen's right to rule. Faculty responsibility for 
student conduct and its limits. Should the faculty ever censor 
student publications? Does the faculty govern too much? Should 
there be three days of vacation at Thanksgiving? Senior societies. 
Student activities vs. studious activities. 

Rise of intercollegiate athletics. Development of football. Why 
is football the great student game? College life without intercol- 
legiate athletics? Athletics and the development of sportsmanship. 
Athletics at Oxford compared with athletics at . Com- 
mercialization of sport. Professional coaches. Do athletics cost 
too much? Should the university levy an athletic tax? Should 
a varsity athlete receive college credit on easier terms than others? 

Cheer leaders: How select them? How much leading should 
they do? Ethics of cheering at games. Winning games from the 
bleachers. Limits of proper support for a team. Let the better 
team win. Should the coach direct the game? Inducing prepara- 
tory school "stars" to come to one's college. 

Defense of the "grind." Value of regularity in college routine. 
Students and efficiency. Following the crowd in college. The 
excuse habit. Should student competitions be limited and regu- 
lated? Does it pay to go through college if one must earn his way 
by table waiting, caring for furnaces, etc.? How to earn one's way 
through college. Should students vote in their college town? 
Should a college town be "dry"? Large college or small? Should 
students be "rushed" for fraternities in the first term? Student 
responsibility for the college's reputation. 

Is the main benefit of college learning to deal with men? Is it 
the best place for that purpose? Is it worth while to "play at 
business" in college? A liberal arts course for the business man. 
A liberal arts course for professional men. What is a trained 
mind? What is culture? What is education? Is law a cultural 
subject? Engineering? The education of Oxford. Of the Ger- 
man university. The free elective system. Spencer's view of edu- 
cation. When should specializing begin? Should the A.B. degree 
be given for a course which omits, for the most part, the humani- 
ties? 

Should attendance be required of college students? Should a 
student be compelled to do his college work? Should there be final 
examinations? "Confessions of an Undergraduate." (See in the 
Outlook for July 28, 1915, an article with this title, and replies in 
several later numbers.) Are our standards too low? Is compul- 



362 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

sory military drill in a university a good thing? The evils of free 
tuition. 

Advantages of a year's leave of absence from college during one's 
course. Should a university be advertised? Are athletic teams 
and glee clubs the best advertisements of a university? Should a 
student who is * 'working his way through college" be passed on 
easier terms than others? Should an instructor's pity for a student 
have anything to do with his marks? A student's idea of a proper 
excuse system. Individuality and a college education. Should the 
state support higher education? Is there a good return on the in« 
vestment? 

PUBLIC QUESTIONS 

The boss in politics. The sources of his power. Is he a neces- 
sary evil? How may the boss be eliminated? How Tammany 
gets the votes. Literacy test for voters. The short ballot. The 
recall. The initiative. The Governor's initiative. Commission 
Government. Experience of Galveston (or any other city which 
has tried commission government). Commission government for 
large cities. City managers. Home rule for cities. 

Independence in politics. Party spirit. Party loyalty. The 
Mugwump movement. Civil service reform. Curtis, the independ- 
ent. Cleveland and Civil service reform. "To the victor belongs 
the spoils." Mr. Bryan on the reward of party services. Is he 
right? If so, how far? Is strict party loyalty the best road to 
office? Influence of the independent voter. Think for yourself. 

Public ownership of water plants, of lighting plants, of street 
railways, of telephones. Inheritance tax. Single tax. A living 
wage. Minimum wage laws. Syndicalism, or the I. W. W. 

Immigration: A danger to our institutions. To labor? Should 
we object to those immigrants who earn money and carry it away? 
What kind of immigrants do we want? Distribution of immigrants. 
How can we wisely restrict immigration? Japanese immigration. 
Is California justified in her attitude? 

The liquor problem. Effect of alcohol on the human system. 
Effect on the skilled worker. Liquor and the English factory 
worker. Temperance and teetotalism. Economics of the liquor 
problem. Is prohibition right in principle? Can prohibition pro- 
hibit? The case of Maine. Of Kansas. Local option. State 
prohibition. National prohibition. State dispensary system. 
Army canteen. Liquor and the war. How Sweden handles her 
problem. The manufacturer's attitude. Sunday selling. Personal 
liberty. Best attitude for young man toward liquor. 



SELECTING THE SUBJECT 363 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS 

The habitually poor. Should we let the destitute die off? The 
thrifty pauper. Giving to beggars. Organized charity. State 
tramp farms. Poor houses. Children's homes. Neighborhood 
nurses. Playgrounds and swimming pools. Vacant lots for gar- 
dens. Child labor. Why children work in factories. Why should 
not children work? Right of the state to limit labor of women and 
children in their freedom of contract. Low wages and morality. 
Welfare work of employers. Model villages. Profit sharing. 

Criminals and vagrants. The probation system. Juvenile 
courts. Honor system for convicts. "Welfare leagues" in prisons. 
Stripes and the lock-step. Is the criminal responsible for his 
crime? Prison labor. Reformatories vs. prisons. Obligation of 
society to provide healthful prisons. Prisons as schools of crime. 
Insanity as a defense in criminal actions. Increase of homicide in 
this country. Lynching. 

The feminist movement: What is it? Effect on marriage. On 
the home. "Women, once our superiors, now our equals." 
Women, in the industrial world. In education. As politicians. 
"Taxation without representation." The right to vote. Does 
woman need the ballot? Does woman wish the ballot? Women 
and the liquor problem. Women as office-holders. Militancy. 
Women's suffrage and social welfare. 

TOPICS FOR EXPOSITION 

How fishes swim. (Every one thinks he knows, but few do know. 
Such a topic proves interesting.) Circulation of the blood. What 
is homeopathy? The germ theory of disease. Serum therapy. 
The action of narcotics. Fertilization of flowers. Mendel's law. 
Acquired characters. The weather map. How trenches are made. 
Outposts. Supplying an army in the field. Range finding. The 
American serve in tennis. What is religion? What is philosophy? 
Science? What is Hedonism? Pessimism? What is hypnotism? 
The origin of language. What is socialism? What is gambling? 
What is a contract? Contributory negligence. Intoxication as a 
defense. Conspiracy in restraint of trade. How the workingmen's 
compensation law works. Water rights. 

How paper is made. Portland cement. Coke manufacture. 
Hamburg's filtration system. Mine ventilation. Slides in the 
Panama Canal. Building the Detroit River tunnel. Principle of 
a four-cycle gas engine. The carburetter. The magneto. Mak- 
ing fertilizer from the air. Perpetual motion. Why the aeroplane 
flies. How a phonograph works. How a horse is trained. How 
the salt beds 2,000 feet under Ithaca were formed. 



364^ PUBLIC SPEAKING 



SUBJECTS FOR PERSUASION 

Most of the topics suggested in this list may be treated per- 
suasively. If you wish to urge your hearers to do something to 
which they have no strong objections, take such a theme as, The 
need of exercise, Read good books, Don't waste your time, Take 
an active part in politics, Keep out of debt. 

If you are to make a speech to exercise your skill in securing 
conviction when strong beliefs and prejudices are involved, choose 
such as these : Professional coaches should be abolished, The Uni- 
versity should impose an athletic tax, Immigration should be 
checked. National prohibition. Garrison deserves our gratitude, 
There should be a censorship of moving pictures, Sunday tennis, A 
larger navy, Gas-electric cars are best adapted to the line. 

HISTORICAL 

Origin of the Constitution. States rights and centralization. 
(May be treated historically and also as related to present.) Why 
the Union was formed. Problems confronting the constitutional 
convention. Compromise in the Constitution. Development by in- 
terpretation. Comparison with the British constitution. Strict 
construction. John Marshall. Hamilton. Jefferson. Madison. 
Responsibility of the President. Slavery in the Constitution. New 
England and the war of 1812. Calhoun and nullification. Web- 
ster and the Union. Hayne's speech. Clay's work for harmony. 
Compromise of 1820. Of 1850. The Kansas-Nebraska struggle. 
Stephen A. Douglas. Alexander H. Stephens. Jefferson Davis. 
John Brown. Garrison. Why the war came. What if war had 
been avoided. Reconstruction. The United States and secret di- 
plomacy. The acquisition of California as "land-grabbing." Eng- 
land and the violation of neutrality. 

Jefferson : The man. Early career. In the Continental Con- 
gress. In France. As Secretary of State. Jefferson and Adams. 
Jefferson and Hamilton. As President. The Louisiana purchase. 
The patron saint of democracy. 

ETHICAL 

"My Country, may she always be right ; but — right or wrong — my 
Country." "My Country, right or wrong. If right, to keep her 
right; if wrong, to set her right." Is the Golden Rule workable? 
Is returning good for evil practicable? Is non-resistance feasible? 

The philosophy of Omar's Ruhaiyat, The view of life presented 
in Ecclesiastes. Longfellow's Psalm of Life. Jacques in As You 
Like It, Tennyson's Palace of Art. Browning's Rabbi Ben Ezra. 



SELECTING THE SUBJECT 365 

The epicurean. The active life and happiness. Education and 
happiness. Aim in life. The ideal life. The Puritan. Puritan 
and Quaker. Puritan and Cavalier. A typical Puritan. Puritan 
and tolerance. Puritan as pictured by Hawthorne. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

Smoke prevention in cities should be compulsory. Should the 
Chicago terminals be electrified? Use of the open caisson. Should 
the course in civil engineering be made five years? Should en- 
gineers be required to take out licenses? Government control of 
water powers. Motor fuel. Should engineering students be re- 
quired to take English? Economics? Engineer as manager. En- 
gineer and public affairs. 

What is architecture? Architecture of Stanford University. 
The Parthenon. The Pantheon. The Grand Central Station in 
New York City. Its arrangement. Its style. Foundations of the 
Woolworth building. Sewage disposal for the country home. In- 
direct lighting for the home. Thomas Jefferson as an architect. 
Dealing with patrons. With contractors. 

The lawyer in history. In Greece. In Rome. In England. In 
foreign lands to-day. The law as a learned profession. As a busi- 
ness. As a stepping stone to other businesses. College trained or 
office trained. Lawyer as citizen. As public man. As legislator. 
As leader. Ethics of law practice. Defense of the guilty. Duty 
to client. To the court. The shyster. The ambulance chaser. 
Contingent fees. The criminal lawyer. The office lawyer. The 
trial lawyer. The corporation lawyer. Psychology and legal evi- 
dence. Cross-examination. The law's delays. Necessity for tech- 
nicalities. Excess of technicalities. How judges make law. A 
great lawyer. A great case. McCulloch vs. Maryland. The Dart- 
mouth College case. Allen vs. Flood. Gibbons vs. Ogden. 

Origin of medicine. Hippocrates, father of medicine. Medicine 
one hundred years ago. Harvey. Hahnemann. Osteopathy. Viv- 
isection. 

Journalism : Rise of. "Let me make the newspapers and I care 
not who makes the religion or the laws." The press as an educa- 
tor. Freedom of the press. Necessary limitations. Censorship of 
the press. Political power of the press. The partisan newspaper. 
Is the associated press a dangerous monopoly? Journalistic enter- 
prise and yellow journalism. Stealing private papers. Attacks 
on public men. Journalistic blackmail. Plea that the public de- 
mands sensationalism. The New York America7i as a newspaper 
type. The New York Evening Post. Philadelphia North Ameri- 
can. Kansas City Star. Horace Greeley. Charles A. Dana. E. 
L. Godkin. W. R. Hearst. My ideal newspaper. Responsibility 



366 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

for advertising. For error. How much should we read the pa- 
pers? The weekly reviews. 

The theater. Drama in Athens. In Rome. The miracle plays. 
The Chinese stage. In the days of Shakespeare. "Legitimate" 
drama of to-day. Musical comedy. Effect of moving pictures on 
theater business. Upon drama. The sex play. "Damaged Goods." 
Shakespeare and Shaw. The college play. The endowed theater. 
The theater in Germany. Joe Jefferson. Henry Irving. Char- 
lotte Cushman. 

Agitation and reform. Philosophy of reform. Of agitation. Of 
conservatism. Of compromise. Lincoln and Garrison compared. 
Methods of agitation. 

Democracy. How much of it do we want. Vox populi, vox del. 
Democracy as an educator. Democracy and efficiency. And genius. 
As a moral force. 

Advertising. Attention and advertising. Advertising as persua- 
sion. Repetition in advertising. Catch phrases. Waste in adver- 
tising. Does honest advertising pay? 

Disregard for law. American tendency to tolerate abuses. The 
futility and worth of institutions. Multiple personality. Modern 
dancing. Novel reading. How to read books. "Seeing is believ- 
ing." 

SPECIAL PROGRAMS 

The suggestions which follow are especially for teachers rather 
than for students, but might help the latter also. They are the 
product of experience with classes in extemporaneous speaking, 
where a number of speakers are asked to treat the same general 
topic. Many of the subjects above have been used in the same 
way. 

As a method of killing two birds with one stone, I ask each 
speaker to prepare a lecture upon some part of a text on public 
speaking ; say Phillips's Effective Speaking, Not much originality 
is expected, except in illustration. The text may be used to a 
reasonable extent during the talk. Members of the class may ask 
questions, and are held responsible for the content of the lectures 
on examination. 

A similar program can be worked out without reference to a par- 
ticular work, with such topics as introductions, conclusions, ethics 
of borrowing, courtesy to opponents. 

A character sketch. Each speaker is to present an actual char- 
acter so that the character shall seem real and significant. The 
chairman, a member of the class, may speak upon the significance 
of biography. Directions to the class are something like these : 
Make your hearers acquainted with the personality you present. 



SELECTING THE SUBJECT 367 

Choose a person you know at first-hand, or of whom you have inti- 
mate knowledge. Let your character be one worth considering, 
though not necessarily famous, and to you either admirable or the 
opposite. Do not choose a familiar figure of the campus or of the 
press, because there would be no real test of effectiveness. Con- 
sider which method will be most effective : a connected biography, 
or selected incidents arranged about certain characteristics. Note 
well that no abstract presentation of qualities can make a character 
''convincing." 

Variation of the preceding : Let each speaker present, A hero of 
mine. 

Each speaker is to make a speech upon some one characteristic of 
Lincoln (or other well known character), using at least one incident 
from his life as an illustration. The story is to be orderly, clear 
and to the point. Details are to be chosen that give a definite im- 
pression, without superfluity and without barrenness. The story 
must really illustrate, and not be dragged in. 

Each speaker is to make a speech, on any subject he likes, in which 
he uses a story, or other illustration, in such a way that it aids in 
making the point. It must not be used for its own sake. If noth- 
ing else occurs to one, he may turn to ^-Esop's fables. 

(The purpose of the two preceding exercises is to encourage the 
use of illustrations. Students rarely use them, and when told to, 
think of nothing but stale banquet stories. Insist upon pith, point 
and propriety. In order to impress certain points about story tell- 
ing I often have an exercise with stories reproduced from such writ- 
ers as Haw^thorne, Poe, Kipling. This is always enjoyed and serves 
to some extent to awaken the artistic sense.) 

Each speaker on the program is to read the articles in the yation 
entitled. Observations in a Big University, Vol. 76, at pages 66 and 
88, and speak on a topic suggested by them. (They have to do 
with culture, democracy, commonness, table waiting, social life, etc. 
Is the writer a snob, or is she right?) 

Description of a phase of real life in a community well known to 
the speaker, but not to the audience, if possible. Choose with care 
means of making it real to us, — setting, anecdote, customs, sayings, 
occupations, pleasures, anything that will serve to fix a definite pic- 
ture in our minds, or make the life real to us. Do not try to con- 
vey merely the unique features. 

Describe a scene to give a definite impression, as of its grandeur, 
desolation, variety, etc. 

Again, the aim may be simply to make the audience see the scene 
as it is. Give special attention to point of view. 

Religion : My point of view. It is understood that each will 
speak frankly, but with entire courtesy towards those who differ. 



S6S PUBLIC SPEAKING 

(I never submit this topic without securing the assent of all the 
class to these conditions.) 

One good reason for voting for (any candidate of general inter- 
est). (This program is for use just before election.) 

The liquor problem. My solution. 

What I get enthusiastic about. 

Discussion by each member of one of the best articles that has re- 
cently appeared. 

My favorite book. (IMake your hearers want to read it.) 

Read with care Dickinson's Letters of a Chinese Official^ and be 
prepared to speak upon any topic assigned from it. Have your 
ideas in usable form. Attack or defend the book as you please. 



CHAPTER XI 

FINDING MATERIAL — ORIGINALITY 

The efl&cient use of the stores of material in a library- 
is an art worthy your attention; and an art so difficult 
that its adequate treatment demands a volume written 
by an expert. A few suggestions helpful to the average 
reader can be offered here. 

Finding the Books. Make a beginning on improving 
the efficiency of your research, by going into the best 
library within reach and browsing around. If the 
library publishes a descriptive pamphlet, obtain a copy 
to aid you. Acquaint yourself with the methods of 
cataloguing. You will find that books are entered in 
two ways: under the author's family name and under 
the subject ; and that only a few are entered under their 
titles. 

If one goes to a library to find the works of an author 
whose name is known, the matter is comparatively simple. 
Certain methods of cataloguing should, however, be noted. 
The following is taken from the published suggestions 
of the Cornell University Library : 

*^ Books are entered under the author's family name, 
unless an author has consistently used an assumed name. 
A nobleman is entered under the title of nobility, and a 
married woman under her last married name. 

'* English compound names are arranged under the last 
part, e. g., Lane-Poole, under Poole ; foreign names under 
the first part, e. g,, Pardo-Bazan under Pardo. 

'* Prefixes to English names, e.g., De Quincey, Van 

369 



370 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Buren, etc., form a part of the name and determine their 
place in the alphabet; prefixes to French, Spanish and 
Italian names when they are articles, e, g.y LaFayette, 
are a part of the name and determine the place in the 
catalogue, but other prefixes like the preposition de, von, 
van, etc., of foreign names except Russian, are disre- 
garded in the alphabetical arrangement. Names begin- 
ning with M', Mc, St., Ste., are arranged as if spelled 
Mac, Saint, Sainte. The German umlauts a, o, ii, are 
arranged as a, o, u.'' 

By a little experimenting you can determine whether 
or not your library follows the same methods. Do not 
fail to experiment while you consider this chapter, and 
translate the suggestions into working methods by 
actually handling the catalogues, indexes and reference 
books mentioned. 

The greater difficulty arises when one goes to a library- 
to find works on a given subject, without knowledge of 
the authors. A reference librarian tells me that the chief 
cause of failure is the tendency to look in the catalogue 
under the single word the searcher has in mind as repre- 
senting his subject. A student once told me he could 
find nothing of value on the subject of Criminology in 
a library of more than 400,000 volumes. A half -hour 
of searching by one who is certainly no expert revealed 
more than could be read in a week. The student would 
have been helped by the following suggestions : 

If you do not find books under the subject heading you 
have in mind, try other words of related meaning; for 
example, if you do not find Reformatories try Prisons, 
and keep trying until you find what you want, or exhaust 
your vocabulary of words that might form the heading 
for the desired books^ You are likely to come soon upon 
a ''see" reference. Thus the Library of Congress has 
no works catalogued under the heading Penology, but 



FINDING MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY 371 

under that heading refers to Prisons, Punishments, Re- 
formatories. Turning to these headings, you will find 
long lists of books directly upon these topics; and you 
will find *^see also'' references to related topics. Look 
for the cards bearing the ''see also" references at the end 
of the alphabetical list of works under a particular sub- 
ject heading. For example, in the Cornell University 
Library, the catalogue, after a long list of books under 
Penology, has ''see also" references to Criminal Law, 
Prisons, Reformatories, Pardon, Punishment, Crime, 
Capital punishment, Degeneration, Commutation of 
sentence. Detectives, Foundlings, Manslaughter, Insan- 
ity — Responsibility, Immoral literature, Trials — Crim- 
inal, Temperance, Women — Crime, Police Power, Wil- 
liam Shakespeare^ — Criminal characters. Suicide. 

You should notice that under a given subject heading 
the general, unclassified works are placed first, alpha- 
betized according to the authors' names, and that after 
these are placed, in distinct alphabetical lists, books under 
various subheads. Give a few minutes to observing the 
use of the guide cards ; that is, the cards that stand up 
above the catalogue cards. It helps to note that author 
and title headings on the catalogue cards are lettered in 
black, while subject cards have headings in red. On 
an author card, sometimes on the face, sometimes on the 
back, you will usually find the subject under which the 
book is classified, and this will aid you in looking up 
other works on the same subject. Note that govern- 
ments, states, cities, etc., and organizations which publish 
reports and other works concerning their affairs, are 
treated as authors of their publications. Some difficulty 
may arise in finding the reports of a body which has in 
its name the name of a political division. Do not look 
for a report of the United States Steel Corporation in its. 



372 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

alphabetical order under United States, but in a distinct 
list after all the publications of the national government. 
Much time can be saved in finding the literature on 
a subject, if you can get hold of a bibliography of the 
books and articles relating to it. The card catalogue 
may reveal the existence of such a bibliography in your 
library. Look for the catalogue cards describing bibli- 
ographies in the alphabetical position of the word 
bibliography among the subheads of your subject. Get 
the use for a half -hour of Kroeger's Guide to the Study 
and Use of Reference Books. Or turn to the American 
Library Annual, which publishes lists of bibliographies 
on all sorts of subjects. A librarian can sometimes ob- 
tain for you a bibliography on a topic of large public 
interest from the Library of Congress. Articles in 
cyclopedias frequently include bibliographies. The 
Book Review Digest, an ' ' evaluation of literature, ' ' gives 
brief notices of the newest books. 

The American Catalogue of Books, 1876 to date, The 
English Catalogue of Books, 1801 to date, and the Amer- 
ican book-trade publications. The United States Cata- 
logue of Books in Print in 1912, continued by the 
Cumulative Book Index, issued annually, and Publishers' 
Weekly, the Peabody Institute Library Catalogue (in- 
cluding both books and periodicals), and the catalogue 
of the Library of Congress (a card catalogue is found 
in twenty -five of the largest libraries of the country), — 
any or all of these may serve to inform you of the books 
in existence on a given subject; and though the books 
you want may not be in your library, still you may be 
able to obtain them by purchase, by visiting a larger 
library, or by loan through the good offices of the head 
of your library. 

The periodicals. As a guide to magazine articles we 



FINDING MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY 373 

have Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, Read its 
introduction to learn its system. Note in particular the 
system of ^^see also" references. This covers the period 
of 1882 to 1910. For later years we have the Reader's 
Guide, It is published monthly and cumulated in yearly 
volumes. It began in 1902, under the name of the Cumu- 
lative Index. There is also the Magazine Suhject-Index 
and Dramatic Index. It began in 1908. Its monthly 
edition is the Bulletin of Bibliography and Dramatic 
Index. 

For finding articles in newspapers we may turn to the 
yearly indexes published by the London Times and the 
New York Times. These may be used for other papers 
by taking the dates as clues. The indexes of such weekly 
and monthly publications as review current events will 
help in fixing the dates of newspaper items. The Ameri- 
can Library Annual has an index to dates of importance 
in each year, and the Information Quarterly is a digest 
of current events that can be used with newspaper files. 
You will probably find in your library the bound volumes 
of several daily and weekly papers. 

Legislation, investigations, reports, etc. The Public 
Information Service is a bi-monthly index to investiga- 
tions into state and municipal problems, court decisions 
on constitutional questions, proceedings of international, 
national, state and municipal organizations, civic and 
social organizations, bar associations, and important 
legislation. Turn to the card catalogue in a large library, 
and look over the list of reports published by any state, 
upon labor, taxation, insurance, education, etc. Look, 
for example, under the heading ''Wisconsin." Basse's 
Index of Economic Material in the Documents of the 
States of the United States is a valuable aid. 

United States government publications. You will see 



374 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

by Kroeger's Guide that these are extremely numerous. 
Among the more important are the Abstract of the 
Census, the Statistical Abstract, dealing with population, 
finance, commerce, products, immigration and education ; 
Catalogue of the Public Documents of the United States ; 
and the Congressional Record. There are index volumes 
for finding speeches in the Record, The Record does not 
include bills, which can sometimes be obtained from your 
congressman. Those passed may be found by consulting 
the Catalogue of Public Documents or in the United 
States Statutes. To find the report of a department look 
in the library catalogue under ^^ United States" for the 
name of the department. Many of these reports can be 
obtained by sending a request to the proper department. 
You should become familiar with some of the special 
reports, as the Report of the United States Industrial 
Commission. 

One often wishes to gain information in regard to 
particular facts rather than to find a book to read as a 
whole upon his subject; and a vast number of works to 
supply this need have been and are constantly being 
compiled. One should not despair, before looking in 
these, of finding out any fact that has interest for any 
considerable number of persons. It will prove profitable 
to look these compilations over, searching for informa- 
tion on any topics which come to mind. 

The year books: The New International Year Book; 
The American Year Book; The Statesman's Year Book, 
trustworthy and especially valuable as giving the sources 
for all kinds of statistics; the World Almanac; the 
Tribune Almanac. You should own one of these 
almanacs. 

For historical facts see: Harper's Book of Facts, 
Hayden's Dictionary of Dates; Larned's History for 



FINDING MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY 375 

Ready Reference; Ploetz's Epitome of Ancient, Medieval 
and Modern History. These are, of course, chiejly useful 
for finding isolated facts, and are not to take the place 
of more complete works. 

For biographical facts: The Dictionary of National 
Biography, the most comprehensive work of its kind, but 
includes no living persons; Lippincott's Biographical 
Dictionary, to the end of the nineteenth century; the 
Natio7ial Cyclopedia of American Biography, devoted 
mainly to contemporaries, 1892-1901; Who's Who, an 
English work; Who's Who in America; AUibone's Crit- 
ical Dictionary of English Literature and British and 
American Authors, 

For literary facts: Granger's Index to Poetry and 
Recitation, giving titles, authors and first lines; Peet's 
Who's the Author? a brief account of novels, stories, 
speeches, songs and general writing in America ; Brewer's 
Dictionary of Phrase and Fahle, ^'giving the derivation, 
source, or origin of common phrases, allusions and words 
that have a tale to tell"; Brewer's Reader ^s Handbook 
of famous names in fiction, allusions, references, proverbs, 
plots, stories and poems; Bartlett's Familiar Quotations; 
Dictionary of Quotations, by Harbottle and others, in- 
cluding quotations classical and modern, in English and 
in foreign tongues. 

If you are working on the selection. Who is to Blame, 
in Chapter XIV, and wish to learn about Jeremy Diddler, 
look in Brewer's Reader's Handbook, or in Webster's 
New International Dictionary, in the lower division of 
the page ; but if you wish to learn about Dick Turpin or 
Jonathan Wild, who were real characters, or about 
Tweed, who is referred to under the name of Wild, look 
in a biographical dictionary. 

Finally, one of the most expeditious and satisfactory 



376 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

ways of finding material is to ask an expert in the subject 
what the authoritative books are. If you ask at the right 
time and in the right way, he will usually be glad to help 
you. Make free use of the services of the reference 
librarian: he is there to help you. But do not expect 
him to do your work for you: be satisfied when he has 
shown you how to help yourself. 

What to read. Any book or article on your subject 
may be worth reading; if not for its information and 
arguments, at least for its viewpoints. But when there 
is a great mass of material at hand, it is usually wise to 
pick and choose. In any case, you will do well to read 
the better works first. How shall you know which are 
the better works? You may ask a specialist in the sub- 
ject. From your searches through catalogues and in- 
dexes you will gain some impressions as to who are the 
important writers on the subject. You can infer some- 
thing of their standings by observing the character of 
the publications which accept their articles. You can 
observe which books are recommended, or noted as im- 
portant, in the most bibliographies. From articles read 
you can gain some idea of the names which are generally 
respected. You can learn from title pages and from 
Who^s Who of the works produced and positions held by 
your authors ; or you may be able to find a more author- 
itative biography. You can judge from the date of publi- 
cation whether the work represents the latest views, — a 
matter of much more importance in some subjects than 
in others. None of this evidence is conclusive, but any 
of it may be helpful in determining whether a book is 
authoritative and what discounts to make. "When in 
regard to such a remarkable history as that contained in 
Prince's Dissociation of Personality , I ask a psychological 
friend if it is to be taken at face value, and am told, ^^ Yes, 



FINDING MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY 377 

so far as facts go," I know how to read the book. Of 
course, the final test of a book is the book itself ; but the 
less versed one is in a subject the more one needs aid in 
selecting reading upon it. The tests for authorities, set 
down in Chapter IX, may be reviewed and applied 
here. 

In any case, do not be satisfied with reading a careless 
article, or with reading one article or book. Read enough 
to gain a comprehensive view of your subject, and to 
learn the various opinions held in regard to it. 

How to read. In taking up a book, examine title page, 
preface and introduction. These will enable you to 
understand the book better, because you will know better 
what the author has tried to do, the scope of the work, 
its point of view and its limitations. You will be better 
able to decide, too, whether it is an impartial statement 
of facts, or a statement of facts manipulated to establish 
a thesis. Look at the table of contents to get the plan 
of the chapters; and look over the index, or the index 
volume if you are dealing -with a set of works. Time 
spent in getting acquainted with a book will save time. 

As for the actual reading, what better can be said than 
was said long ago by Bacon? ^ ^^Eead not to contradict 
and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to 
find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider." 
Read, that is, open-mindedly, not with awe of the printed 
page, not simply to find support for your own views, 
ignoring or rejecting all that refute them, and not simply 
to find pat quotations or something to fill up with ; but 
with mind alert for all the truth and with critical judg- 
ment. Read and think, and think more than you read. 
Compare what you read with what you already have in 
mind. Keep in mind as you read any special bias of the 

1 Bacon's Essays, On Studies. 



378 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

writer; for example, in reading Mills or Eicardo on 
economics, remember that they wrote as believers in the 
doctrine of laissez faire. 

Bacon continues: ^^Some books are to be tasted, 
others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and 
digested ; that is, some books are to be read only in parts ; 
others are to be read but not curiously [carefully] ; and 
some few are to be read wholly, with diligence and atten- 
tion." Ability to skim books wisely is needed by every 
reader ; but it seems that students to-day are sent through 
so many books in haste, in the preparation of so many 
ill-digested papers, that there is danger that they will 
never gain the abilit}^ to master, or exhaust the possibili- 
ties of a page. The work with selections is a help to 
thorough reading. ^^ Beware of the man of one book,'' 
says a proverb, and like most proverbs this expresses a 
great half truth. The man of one book is likely to be 
narrow and to overlook the possibilities of the opposition ; 
but his complete mastery of one view of a subject makes 
him a dangerous antagonist for the man of vague ideas 
and information. The speaker should read rather widely 
that he may know all sides of his question, and thus be 
honest with himself and his audience, and also know what 
to expect from the opposition ; but he should ' ' chew and 
digest" some of the best works on his subject. 

Taking notes. At times one may read just to soak 
himself full of a subject, and wish few notes; but most 
often he wastes time if he does not pin down what he 
reads. The ideas which seem perfectly clear as he reads, 
grow hazy and slip from memory ; the facts which he is 
sure he can remember or turn to when he needs them, 
quite elude him. He may wish to use them a long time 
after his reading. 

Some may prefer to read a book through before taking 



FINDING MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY 379 

notes ; others to take notes as they read. A good method 
is merely to jot down on a slip (Do not mark the book 
unless it is your own ! ) the pages on which useful matter 
is to be found, and then make complete notes after finish- . 
ing the book. As for the manner of taking notes, the 
following suggestions are offered, in addition to what was 
said in Chapter IV : 

1. Use cards of uniform size, the size you determine 
is best for your card index. 

2. Place on a card matter relating to one sub-topic only. 

3. Quote from the original source, if possible. 

4. Always make an exact reference to the source at the 
time you make a note. You may wish to state this in 
answer to a challenge, or to return to the book for veri- 
fication or additions. 

5. *^ Quote exactly, and use quotation marks. "^ 

6. ^'Indicate omissions by means of dots, thus ..." 

7. ^^When you supply your own words inside a quota- 
tion, inclose them in brackets [thus].'' 

8. ''Indicate at the top of each card the main subject 
or issue to which the evidence relates, and the sub-topic." 



PERSUASION THEORY 



James, Psychology: Briefer Course, p. 452. 

''We thus find that [Italics J's] we reach 
the heart of our inquiry into volition when 
we ask by what process . . . the thought of 
any given action comes to prevail stably in 
the mind/^ 



1 1 am drawing freely here from Foster's Argumentation and De- 
late, p. 78. 



380 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Do not imagine that these suggestions are intended 
to make extra work. If I had followed for the past 
twenty years the advice I am giving, I should have saved 
myself much waste of time and labor. 

As a final suggestion on reading : Do not suppose that 
a speaker should depend entirely upon special reading 
for a given speech. Phillips Brooks said to the Tale 
divinity students : ^ 

*^One preacher depends for his sermon on special 
reading. Each discourse is the result of work done in 
the week in which it is written. . . . Another preacher 
studies and thinks with far more industry, is always 
gathering truth into his mind, but it is not gathered 
with reference to the next sermon. It is truth for truth 's 
sake, and for that largeness and ripeness and fullness of 
character which alone can make him a strong preacher. 
Which is the better method? The latter, beyond all 
doubt. In the first place, the man of special preparation 
is always crude; he is always tempted to take up some 
half considered thought that strikes him in the hurry of 
his reading, and adopt it suddenly, and set it before his 
people, as if it were his true conviction. Many a minis- 
ter's old sermons are scattered all over with ideas which 
he never held, but which held him for a week. ' ' 

This quotation bears, also, upon our next topic. 

Originality. It is proper to follow a discussion of the 
sources of material with some consideration of original- 
ity. The speaker upon the platform is understood to be 
giving an original speech, unless a statement is made to 
the contrary. What is the meaning of the term original 
as here used? No very definite answer can be given; 
but one can arrive at a working conception. Baker 
speaks of ^Hhe reaction of an individual mind on the 

1 Lectures on Preaching, p. 157. 



FINDING MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY 381 

materiaL ' ' ^ That may serve as a definition of orig- 
inality. Essenwein puts the matter thus : ^ 

''How does my mind work when it receives a new 
truth ? 

*'Does it enjoy the truth, and then give it out again 
unaltered, exactly or substantially in the same words? 
That is quotation, if credit is given to the author ; other- 
wise it is literary theft. 

''Does my mind feel stimulated, upon receiving truth, 
to produce other thoughts, and yet utter the received 
thought without change? That is expansion. 

"Does my mind not only receive a stimulus from new 
truth, but also assimilate it, transform, clarify, and 
amplify it, so that in uttering that truth I utter it 
stamped with my own image and superscription? That 
is originality. 

"... An original thought is a new birth, — ^the fruit 
of a union of truth from without and of thought from 
within. " 

Originality may consist in finding a new phase of a 
subject, in working out a new analysis, or a new view- 
point; or in applying an old truth to a new situation. 
Each age must adapt old knowledge, the product of 
earlier ages' experience, to its new, or seemingly new, 
circumstances, and restate it in terms of the new day. 
"A thought is his who puts new youth in it," says 
Lowell. Certainly we do not demand an absolutely new 
thought ; for, as has been said, one absolutely new thought 
to a century is a high average. It is enough that an in- 
dividual has really reacted to the old ideas. That is a 
high degree of originality when one has come to a clear 
realization of a truth as the result of experience, even 
though the truth was in his first copybook. ' ' The burnt 

1 Forms of Public Discourse, p. xix. 

2 How to Attract and Hold an Audience, p. 51. 



382 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

child" has an original idea when he first learns by ex- 
perience that fire does burn. I recall a student who 
came in with a great desire to write on Compensation, a 
thought which had come to him from a certain ex- 
perience and which he supposed really new. It was 
honestly original, though as old as the first thinker. 

We admit a degree of originality, also, in one who 
gives an old idea freshness of treatment and puts it in 
a superior way. 

1 "For we call a thing his in the long run, 
Who utters it clearest and best." 

Negatively, we may say that one who sits down to 
make an abstract of an article or a chapter, taking out 
topic sentences and changing a few words, is not doing 
original work. Nor is he though he does not use a single 
sentence from his author, so long as he adopts the 
author's ideas and standpoint. To paraphrase may be a 
very good exercise in speech training, but it is not meet- 
ing a requirement for an original speech. The case is 
somewhat more hopeful when one reads two authorities, 
compares them and writes a speech based upon both. 
But we cannot establish any rule for originality based on 
the number of works read. It is the thinking, assimilat' 
ing and reacting that count. AVe may safely say that if 
one will follow out the directions in Chapter IV, in re- 
gard to the stages of preparation, he will be fairly 
original. 

It would be hard to give a better description of original work, 
when one must base his speech upon the material of others, than this 
quoted from a student by Professor Baker : 2 

"In working up both my forensics this year, I read a great deal. 
My mind kept in a perfect boil all the time, and after each book 
or article I seemed to have a different conformation of ideas. Ideas 

1 Franciscus de Verulamio sic cogitavit. Lowell's Works. Vol. 
IV, p. 197. 

^Principles of Argumentation^ p. 387.. 



FINDING MATERIAL— ORIGINALITY 383 

of my own that I had started out with were totally or almost en- 
tirely changed in the end. Nor had I apparently changed them for 
those of any one else. They were not on the other hand original [ ?]. 
I am sure some one had thought of every one before. In fact, they 
had flashed through my own mind in a vague way at different times 
in my life. ... I had taken the ideas of other men and molded 
mine by them. My application was often very different from the 
application of the authors themselves, yet I had used them and 
owed them something." 

There is a moral aspect to this question of originality, 
which seems to demand attention. One sometimes finds 
astonishing views prevailing. A student took an oration, 
transposed some sentences, struck out here and there a 
clause, presented it as an original speech and defended 
his action. I recall hearing a man of some distinction, 
in an address to arouse martial spirit at the beginning of 
the Spanish- American War, declaim eloquently, without 
acknowledgment, large sections from a speech by Wen- 
dell Phillips. A friend of mine holds in his hands proof 
that a certain college president preached a baccalaureate 
sermon taken largely from the printed sermons of an- 
other college president. Does not the moral sense of 
mankind condemn such practices? The natural anxiety 
of the friends of the college president mentioned that the 
proofs of his plagiarism shall not be made public, indi- 
cates that there is a moral obligation upon a speaker to 
be original in some fair sense of the word. 

On the low ground of expediency, plagiarism is inad- 
visable. There were at least two persons who heard the 
speaker declaiming from Wendell Phillips who were able 
to ^^give him away." A visiting preacher in an Ithaca 
pulpit assumed that no one read printed sermons; but 
one little woman did, and she forced him to a humili- 
ating confession. 

I find no reason to suppose that the standard of orig- 
inality is lower for speakers than for writers. We must, 
of course, consider in a given case what is understood by 



384 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

the audience: there may be times when a speaker is 
understood to be but a mouthpiece. He has been sent 
to represent another person or an institution. Again, 
speakers under certain circumstances will be understood 
to have used certain authorities. 

A speaker should be quick to acknowledge his indebted- 
ness, when acknowledgment is due. He will not lose 
by so doing, but gain in the respect of his audience. 
When acknowledgment is due cannot be laid down defi- 
nitely; but the honest man will make sure he goes far 
enough in this direction. One is not bound to give 
credit for ideas taken from the great common stock, even 
though he knows that a certain writer has expressed 
them, unless he is borrowing that writer's form. For 
example, I was told the other day that the suggestion 
made in Chapter VII, in regard to tact in giving informa- 
tion the audience should possess, had been made by Poor 
Richard. Possibly I got it from him ; but I feel no obli- 
gation to give credit for such a commonplace, though I 
might wish to cite so strong an authority as Benjamin 
Franklin. 

There is no use in trying to lay down rules about origi- 
nality. The unscrupulous man will cheat any rules on 
such a subject. The honest man will keep himself from 
fraud when he realizes what honesty demands; and he 
can best do it by thorough mastery of facts and genuine 
thinking. I trust that no student who has studied this 
text will ask, as did one who was criticized for merely 
boiling down an editorial, '^What more can one do?" 



CHAPTER XII 

EXTEMPORANEOUS OR WRITTEN — PLANS AND OUTLINES 

Shall the speech be written or extemporaneous ? This 
is a question which causes much argument, in which it 
seems to be assumed that one way must be right on all 
occasions and for all persons, and to be forgotten that the 
question is, not written or extemporized, but good or 
bad, and good or bad under the circumstances. 

The question is not one to be answered categorically. 
Much depends upon the speaker, the nature of the speech, 
and the occasion. Each method of speaking has its 
merits and defects, its uses and abuses. As regards the 
conversational elements of delivery, these methods were 
considered in Chapter 11. I hold that the well equipped 
speaker should be able to speak by every method, and 
should practice all, especially as a learner. 

The extemporaneous speech. By the term extempo- 
raneous we have come to describe, not a speech without 
preparation (that we call impromptu)^ but a speech which 
is not written out in full. This is the most popular 
method, and sometimes it is the only method feasible. 
Its peculiar merit is its greater adaptability to a situation. 
There are times when, though the speaker can arm him- 
self with facts and lines of argument for all probable 
emergencies, he cannot tell in advance what will be 
needed. There is, indeed, on almost any occasion, an 
advantage in being able to adapt one's discourse to the 
varying condition of one's auditors. The extempora- 

385 



386 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

neous speaker can, also, profit more from the inspiration 
of occasion and audience than can one who has written 
his speech. 

Beecher, who believed the extemporaneous method best 
for most occasions, warned young speakers against ^^the 
temptation to slovenliness in workmanship, to careless 
and inaccurate statement, to repetition, to violation of 
good taste. ' ' ^ The tendency to slovenliness is very 
marked. The extemporizer is likely to seize the first 
word that comes to mind, whether it is just the right word 
to express his meaning or not. He tends to use one word 
instead of its synonyms, which would more exactly ex- 
press shades of meaning. Then, feeling that he has not 
exactly expressed his idea, he goes on repeating in many 
words and becomes verbose. Often he sits down with the 
consciousness that he has not said what he meant. Again, 
he may quite forget to say what he wishes most to say. 
Afterward he has the humiliation of remembering this, or 
of learning from others that he has been misunderstood 
because of careless statements or omissions. 

Most troublesome to the extemporizer, perhaps, are 
the rash, unconsidered, or silly ideas that pop into the 
mind and out of the mouth. These may come to us in 
our thinking at any time, but when we compose deliber- 
ately we weed them out. They may be no worse than 
inane or a clog to the thought, or they may be damaging. 
Wise and friendly reporters may leave them out ; but the 
mischief may be done. Opponents may snap them up 
and publish them far and wide, — whether far and wide 
refers to a village, a state, a nation, or the world. These 
statements may be inspired by the occasion (for inspira- 
tion is of divers kinds), by the conduct of opponents 
or the enthusiasm of friends. Strong statements made 

1 Yale Lectures on Preaching, 1st Series, p. 216. 



WRITTEN OR EXTEMPORANEOUS 387 

at night when one is surrounded by sympathetic friends, 
perhaps '^breathing out threatenings and slaughter" 
against the opposition, and showering compliments upon 
the speaker, sound very different when read from the 
morning paper. 

Presidents do not deliver extemporaneously their in- 
augural addresses. The public is watching too critically 
for the smallest hints of policy. President Wilson has 
probably dared more than any other president in the way 
of extemporaneous address; but he is said to regret his 
inability to memorize a speech. Men who occupy promi- 
nent positions protect themselves when making impor- 
tant speeches, by writing out their remarks and giving 
copies to the press, and then reading from the manu- 
script, or speaking from memory. Not many of us will 
be inaugurated as presidents, or even as governors; but 
we shall have occasions when we wish to weigh our words, 
and take no chance either of ill-considered statements or 
of confusion or omissions. Or we may have to speak on 
subjects too intricate to carry in memory. There are 
times, then, when it is advisable to write one's speech, 
even if one is able to extemporize well. 

The written speech. The written speech permits a 
care in regard to phraseology and a certainty of saying 
precisely what one wishes to say, that are impossible to 
one extemporizing. These advantages are so important 
that speeches are written more often than is believed by 
the inexperienced. On important occasions speakers will 
always be likely to use the writing method, when it is 
possible. The objections to it can be overcome in part 
by careful preliminary study of the probable audience 
and situation ; by writing always with these in mind, 
perhaps talking to this audience in imagination before 
writing, and by training one 's self on the lines indicated 



SSS PUBLIC SPEAKING 

in Chapter II. In addition it may be said that whatever 
one memorizes, he should memorize thoroughly. "With 
a speech poorly memorized, one has neither the freedom 
of the extemporizer nor the sureness of the reader. His 
mind is taken up with the anxious strain of remembering. 
But with perfect memorization, he can, if he will hold 
himself to his work, realize fully the import of his words 
and come into close touch with his audience. 

When one wishes to deliver a written speech, and lacks 
time or ability for memorizing, or dares not trust to 
memory, he must read his speech. Many college lec- 
turers, who deliver several long lectures in a week, find 
this the only practicable method. The objection to this 
method can be overcome to a great extent by preparing 
as suggested in the preceding paragraph, by gaining great 
familiarity with the manuscript, and by making a deter- 
mined attempt to keep in touch with the audience. The 
reader is likely to proceed much too fast, and to do very 
little thinking. He should speak very slowly, and espe- 
cially should pause deliberately while getting each new 
statement in mind, and then deliver it as directly as 
possible to his hearers. 

Very often speakers combine the methods of commit- 
ting to memory and of extemporizing. Certain passages 
which are particularly difficult or important, as a candi- 
date 's statements of policy, or his pledges, are fixed in 
memory; and also passages in which particularly good 
expression is desired. The method decreases somewhat 
one's freedom, for he must lead up to these passages, 
and sometimes a poor effect is produced by the contrast 
between them and the extemporaneous parts. There 
may be lack of harmony in tone or in style. 

^'But,'' as Brander Matthews says,^ ^Hhere is no deny- 

1 Notes on Speech-Making, p. 32, 



WRITTEN OR EXTEMPORANEOUS 389 

ing the popularity of this third method with the speakers 
of the first rank, at whose hands its possibilities have 
been adroitly improved. John Bright used to write out 
certain parts of his more important speeches. So did 
Mr. Gladstone. Daniel Webster, a far greater orator 
than either of them, had stored his capacious memory 
with arguments that might lie there for years ready for 
his use. The Reply to Hayne was not wrritten out before 
delivery, either as a whole or in part, but it certainly 
contained more than one mighty passage the wording of 
which had been elaborately prepared against the long- 
waited occasion.'' 

The political speaker, the agitator, or any one who car- 
ries on a long campaign of speaking, is likely to use this 
mixed method; as one who travels with them finds to 
his weariness. They usually say something new in each 
speech, both to adapt themselves to the particular audi- 
ence, and to furnish the papers something new to report ; 
but the bulk of their speech will be repeated time after 
time. Or, they may have an adjustable speech, a sort 
of handy set of parts, that can be fitted together in vari- 
ous ways, not all the pieces being used each time. Of 
course, such speakers often do extemporize in a measure, 
having talked through their subjects so many times and 
ways that they are sure of finding a familiar trail wher- 
ever they go. And they, often ramble and mix things up 
sadly when they thus trust to luck. 

When one proposes to use this method of linking mem- 
orized passages together with extemporized parts, he 
should try to key his prepared passages to his probable 
occasion. Then he should memorize them thoroughly, in 
order that he may relieve himself from anxiety about his 
ability to take them up when he pleases. 

How reduce the defects of the extemporaneous speech. 



390 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Since the extemporaneous speech has great advantages 
on many occasions, we should consider with care how its 
defects can be minimized. As one of the chief defects is 
lack of discrimination in the use of words, the extempo- 
raneous speaker should take much care in this regard. 
He should not seize upon the first word that comes, but 
should dare to wait for the right one. There are few 
more effective speakers than Elihu Koot. His words do 
not come easily, though he has an abundant vocabulary ; 
but when they come they are right, and are far more im- 
pressive than glibness. 

Again, the extemporaneous speaker should write much. 
This is urged by those who believe most strongly in the 
extemporaneous speech. Beecher told the Yale divinity 
students that they should write about one-third of their 
sermons. Dr. Lyman Abbott ^ emphasizes the ^ ^ constant 
use of the pen. No man ought to trust only to the voice 
as a means of expression. If he does not write sermons, 
he ought to write something else, and write with care, 
with dictionary of synonyms before him, with careful 
weighing and study of words and sentences, with careful 
rewriting, elision of all repetitions, rewriting of sentences 
in an endeavor to improve their form, their clearness, 
their compactness, their rhythm and cadence. ' ' 

For many years I conducted a class in extemporaneous speaking. 
The students gained fluency and self-possession, but it was a con- 
stant effort to keep them from degenerating in language, from grow- 
ing slip-shod in choice of words, in orderliness and compactness. 
At the same time I had a course in which all speeches were written 
and re-w^ritten. The students in this class gained in knowledge of 
principles, in arrangement, and in the use of words ; but they lacked 
interest, spontaneity and touch with audiences. Then I combined 
the two courses and made a course much better than either. Each 
kind of work tends to correct the faults of the other. 

1 From a valuable *'Open Letter," reprinted from the Outlook, 
in the Appendix of Matthew^s' Notes on Public Speaking, 



WRITTEN OR EXTEMPORANEOUS 391 

The student of speaking should take very seriously 
this advice to write much. While I believe that he is 
profited by delivering extemporaneous speeches from the 
very beginning of his work, I find that he develops most 
harmoniously when he makes speeches in many ways. 
He should not be mislead by what some experienced 
speaker does or seems to do ; but should remember that he 
is a learner. Dr. Abbott says, in the same ^'Open Let- 
ter" from which I have just quoted, that the best extem- 
poraneous speaker requires ''years of practice. Do not 
expect to attain by any school method in a month or year 
that which your elders have attained only by long exer- 
cise in the study and on the platform. ' ' 

I know of no more ardent advocate of extemporaneous speaking 
than Dr. Richard S. Storrs, an eminent preacher of the last cen- 
tury, who published a book entitled, Preaching Without Notes, in 
which he tells of the experience which led him to his belief. Dur- 
ing twenty-five years he tried every method of preaching. At first 
he wrote all his sermons. Then he spoke from very full notes. 
Then he read one sermon and preached one without notes on the 
same Sunday. Finally he abandoned all aids in the pulpit. He 
says (p. 37) : "I wrote for many years, fully and carefully. I 
now write only a brief outline of the discourse, covering usually 
one or two sheets of common note-paper, and have no notes before 
me in the pulpit — not a line, or a catch-word." He became sure 
that his last way was best. 

But Dr. Storrs does not observe at all how important were those 
twenty-five years of training in which he wrote fully and carefully, 
and how gradually he approached the stage in which he was an 
accomplished extemporizer. He tells us that for thirteen of those 
years he wrote also as editor of a religious journal. He also 
served exacting congregations. In all this he was training himself 
in logical thinking and in orderly, clear-cut expression. He tells 
us, too, that his first notable success without writing was a sermon 
upon a subject upon which he had recently written. His experi- 
ence is most suggestive ; more suggestive, indeed, than he realized. 

Besides writing, another method frequently used for 
checking up one's self, is to have a stenographer take 



392 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

down one's speech verbatim and present it without any 
of the kindly corrections which stenographers commonly 
make. Such a report will show one his tendencies, 
whether he is overusing certain expressions, or is grow- 
ing verbose and slovenly. 

But the most important suggestion for eliminating the 
faults common in extemporaneous address is thorough 
preparation. You will not find among the men who 
advocate and have used best this form of address, those 
who hold that it is a method of escaping labor, except the 
mere labor of writing. Dr. Storrs followed his advocacy 
of extemporaneous method with this : 

^^ Never begin to preach without notes with any idea of 
saving yourselves work hy it. If you do you will fail; 
and you will richly deserve to fail. Any suspicion of 
this among your people will destroy your hold on them. 
Your own minds will deteriorate ; and your sermons will 
lose, not finish only, but body and vigor. ' ' 

After stating the essentials of a good extemporaneous 
speech. Dr. Abbott says : 

' ' The preparation of such an address will take quite as 
much time as the preparation of a manuscript. It must 
be more thoroughly prepared ; the subject must be more 
thoroughly thought out ; the mind must be familiar with 
it in all its aspects. ' ' 

It is easy to see that this is true. The man who writes 
may be able to conceal his ignorance, and throw false 
bridges over the gaps in his facts and reasonings ; but one 
who attempts to follow a line of thought extemporane- 
ously, or adapt his statements to the circumstances and 
exigencies of an occasion, must have a clear line of 
thought and a mastery of all facts that may be needed. 

Importance of a plan. A plan is needed in order that 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 393 

the speaker may know what he is about and may make 
sure that he is doing what he wishes to do. To make a 
plan is to bring into order his knowledge of his situation, 
to determine with precision what he will attempt, to take 
stock of his means and to prepare for their most efficient 
use. For the speaker who proposes to speak extempo- 
raneously, a careful plan is necessary to prevent the 
rambling, verboseness, and the failure to say what is in- 
tended, that we have just commented on. One who is to 
write a speech needs the plan hardly less, for he too will 
ramble if, instead of following a clearly marked out 
path, he merely writes as one thing suggests another. 

But the speaker must consider much more than what he 
wishes to say. He must consider his audience, and how 
he can adapt what he wishes to say to them, in order that 
he may inform, or convince, or persuade them. Every 
problem that we have considered in the preceding chap- 
ters, in regard to the adaptation of speeches to hearers, is 
a reason for planning. You will recall what Beecher 
said of his ineffective preaching before he began delib- 
erately to aim his sermons at his congregation. And Dr. 
Abbott, Beecher 's successor in Plymouth Church, has 
this to say of the steps of special preparation : ^ 

''1. What is the object of this speech? What end is it 
to serve? What verdict is it to win? What result is 
it to accomplish? 2. Central thought. What thought 
lodged in the mind of an auditor will best accomplish the 
desired result? 3. Analysis of this central thought into 
three or four propositions, the enforcement and illustra- 
tion of which will serve to fasten in the minds of the hear- 
ers, the central thought, and so to secure the desired re- 
sult. 4. Some illustrations or concrete statements of 
each one of these separate propositions. ' ' 

1 From the "Op'^n Letter" reprinted in Matthews' 'Notes on 
Speech-Making, p. 90. 



394 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

The man who objects to making a plan for a speech 
would object to making a plan for a house. It is true 
that one might build a very delightful house without a 
plan; but the chances are that he would waste much 
money in buying his material, and in making the changes 
necessitated by the fact that the chimney cut off the stair- 
way and that the bath room could be reached only through 
the kitchen. And when he was done he would be likely 
to find that his work of genius had neither form nor 
utility. It may be very delightful to start from one's 
hotel in a strange city and walk to the station, with only 
the general notion that it is ^ ^ over that way. ' ' One may 
have a fine time watching the crowd and looking in at the 
shop windows, he may meet an old friend; but at train 
time he may be far from the station. 

It may be delightful to hear an old man whose life has 
been rich in experiences, ramble about as his memory 
leads. He is sure to enjoy it ; but unless he is an unusual 
old man, his hearers will be bored. The analogies are 
not complete ; for in speech-making we must take account 
of our hearers. They do not care to hear many of us 
ramble ; they wish us to accomplish something in a short 
time and have done with it; and we must consider how 
we can best carry out our purpose in the time allowed. 
This should be too clear for argument for any one who 
realizes that public speaking should be, not merely talk- 
ing, but talking effectively ; and, further, that most pub- 
lic speaking is ineffective. 

Making the plan. The suggestions which will help 
one in making a speech can be drawn from the preceding 
chapters, especially from Chapters IV, VI, VIII, and IX. 
The more important of these suggestions can be arranged 
in a chart. To enumerate them all here would require 
a review of the whole subject. It would be good practice 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 395 

to write out the answers to these questions with reference 
to several speeches, until one forms a habit of proceeding 
systematically. (See p. 396 for chart.) 

It is quite true, as some one may be reminding me, that I have 
raised in this text many questions that a speaker should answer. 
Recently a friend who was studying medicine showed me the list 
of questions he had to answer with regard to his patients in the 
hospital. "But how can you ever get through wdth that inter- 
minable list?'* I demanded. "Oh/' he replied, "with practice one 
gets to do it very rapidly." So wath practice the speaker becomes 
able to diagnose his audience and occasion rapidly. And as not all 
the questions on my friend's list were applicable to each case, so 
not all of those raised here are applicable to each speech. But 
as the progressive modern physician's diagnosis is extraordinarily 
searching, so that of a speaker who wishes to improve should be. 
There are too many speakers like a too common type of general 
practitioner, who asks a question or two and passes out the stock 
prescription. 

The outline. All the work of preparation, as indicated 
in various chapters, and especially in the discussion of the 
three stages of preparation in Chapter IV, in the discus- 
sion of reading in Chapter XI, and in this Speaker's 
Chart, should be crystallized in an outline, or sketch of 
the speech in brief form, before the speaker writes it in 
full, or delivers it extemporaneously. It is the outline 
which, above all other devices, enables one to deliver a 
speech which has due proportion, emphasis, unity and 
coherence, to proceed in an orderly way to the goal, to 
make sure of saying what one wishes to say, of support- 
ing one's claims, and of finishing on time. The outline 
is the best means of testing one's preparation. It should 
reveal what the speaker proposes to do, and how each 
part is related to the central aim. It reveals flaws in 
arguments and defects in information, and indicates the 
progress of the thought from beginning to end. It is in 
the outline that the experimenting and rearranging 
should be done. 



396 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Speaker's Chart 

1. What is my purpose? (E.g. I wish to persuade my 
hearers to vote, etc.) 

2. What is the principal means to use in accomplishing 
this purpose? (E.g. an argument that we should have a 
'' tariff for revenue only.'') 

3. By what facts and ideas shall I support this means ? 

4. What are the characteristics of my probable audi- 
ence? 

5. Is my audience interested in this subject? From 
what existing interest of theirs can I derive an interest in 
the subject? Or, how can we get on a common ground 
of interest? 

6. What is the state of their information on this sub- 
ject? What must I explain? 

7. Are my ideas novel or familiar to my hearers ? If 
novel, how can I interpret them in terms of their experi- 
ence? With what can I compare them? If familiar, 
how can I give them freshness of treatment? 

8. How can I give concreteness to my ideas? How 
can I utilize the imagination of my audience? What 
illustrations will be effective? 

9. By what varied means of presentation can I keep my 
chief idea before their minds until they are impressed? 

10. Will a chart or a map be of service? 

11. Do my hearers believe the conduct I urge is good ; 
or must they be convinced ? Do they believe the means 
I urge is good? 

12. Why have they not followed the course urged? 
Inertia? Habit? Other motives stronger than those 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 397 

that have been urged? What motives are stronger yet 
with them ? 

13. Will they bear a straight out exhortation ? May I 
appeal directly to emotion ; or must I stir it through the 
imagination ? 

14. Will it be wise to reiterate accepted arguments 
and known facts ? 

15. Can I utilize the force of suggestion, direct or in- 
direct ? 

16. Can I bring them into unity of feeling ? 

17. Can I use their instinct for imitation? 

18. If conviction is lacking, is this audience willing to 
be convinced ? 

19. How can I make them willing to believe ? 

20. What fixed beliefs or prejudices stand in my way ? 

21. Can I identify my belief with their fixed beliefs ? 

22. Can I identify this conduct with their customary 
modes of action? 

23. Can I meet them on some common ground of belief ? 

24. Can I by explanations, eliminations of irrelevant 
matter, or concessions, remove any of their objections? 

25. Must I proceed in this case step by step, or can I 
take advanced ground at once? 

26. Has my audience much general information? 

27. Is my audience slow of thought? 

28. Is my audience conservative, or radical ? 

29. Can I use precedent effectively ? Authorities ? 

30. Can I do anything to give this audience confidence 
in me ? Or to get on good terms with them ? 



398 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Objections to outlines considered. Certain objections 
are so commonly made by students to the preparation of 
outlines, that it is useless to ignore them. '*It hampers 
me and destroys ease," says one. Let us admit that an 
outline may decrease freedom. In the first place, let us 
remember we are learners ; and learning new methods, no 
matter how much better than the old, usually does for the 
time decrease ease. The objection is simply the old ob- 
jection to all kinds of training. Secondly, there are some 
things better than ease and freedom. Orderly progress 
of thought is better, clearness is better, unity is better; 
and it is much better to sit down knowing that you have 
said what you meant to say, not some ill-considered thing. 
We have far too many speeches which remind one of the 
saying, ''We don't know where we are going, but we are 
on our way. ' ' 

Thirdly, do not let the outline hamper you unduly. 
We sometimes read of the speaker, who, after an agony 
of laborious preparation, goes upon the platform, throws 
away his outline or his speech, and has a great impromptu 
success. Such a man is just the one to make an im- 
promptu success because of that very preparation which 
he thinks, quite mistakenly, he has abandoned. It has 
given him facts, cleared his mind, awakened his emotions 
and fitted him to receive that inspiration which helps 
those who help themselves. If a speaker will make a 
genuine preparation and a clear-cut outline, let him 
abandon it on the platform; provided, he is sure that 
under the circumstances he can do better. Generally it 
is best to stick to what one has deliberately decided it is 
wise to say. To abandon it is always a risk ; but it is far 
less of a risk for the man who has made definite prepara- 
tion than for one who is trusting to luck. As for the one 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 399 

who writes his speech, he should change his outline when- 
ever he finds a surely better order. 

And, finally as to ease, the best sort of ease is his who 
in extemporizing knows that he has a clear line of thought 
at his command ; or who in writing can proceed straight 
through to his conclusion, without cutting out and patch- 
ing on, as the man who writes without an outline must 
do, if he is not content with ramblings. It is the driver 
with a sure knowledge of his route who can proceed with 
ease and speed. 

The objection that an outline destroys the beauty of 
a speech, holds good only for outlines that are too ob- 
trusive, because not properly covered. A skeleton, some 
one has observed in this connection, is not a thing of 
beauty, ''but the human body would lack its beauty with- 
out this same ugly skeleton.'' It would be as formless 
as a jelly-fish. The outline should be sufficiently in evi- 
dence to help the hearer to grasp easily the parts and 
their articulations. I quote from Phillips Brooks with 
much pleasure, because he was a great-hearted man whose 
preaching was remarkable for spontaneity and enthusi- 
asm: ^ 

' ' In the desire to make a sermon seem free and sponta- 
neous there is a prevalent dislike to giving it its necessary 
formal structure and organism. The statement of the 
subject, the division into heads, the recapitulation at the 
end, all the scaffolding and anatomy of a sermon is out 
of favor, and there are many good jests about it. I can 
only say that I have come to fear it less and less. The 
escape from it must be not negative but positive. The 
true way to get rid of the bonyness of your sermon is not 
by leaving out the skeleton, but by clothing it with flesh. 
True liberty in writing comes by law, and the more thor- 

1 Lectures on Preaching, p. 177. 



400 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

oughly the outlines of your work are laid out the more 
freely your sermon will flow, like an unwasted stream be- 
tween its well-built banks. I think that most congrega- 
tions welcome, and are not offended by clear, precise 
statements of the course which a sermon is going to pur- 
sue, carefully marked division of its thoughts, and above 
all, by full recapitulation of its argument at the close. 
. . . Leave to the ordinary Sunday-school address its un- 
questioned privilege of inconsequence and incoherence." 

We must seek the happy mean. "We do wish ease and 
spontaneity and individuality ; and we also want coherent 
thought. As the quotation just above indicates, these 
can readily be combined. 

^^But So and So does not make an outline. He told 
me just before he spoke that he did not know what he was 
going to say. ' ' Chesterton tells somewhere of a gardener 
who heard his master declaiming, out in the shrubbery, 
''Mr. Speaker, had I for one moment thought of the pos- 
sibility that you would call upon me this evening — "! 
Chesterton adds, ' ' It takes a long time to prepare an im- 
promptu." But So and So is quite above deception? 
Well, he may have meant that he had no written outline ; 
and he may be one of those clear-headed persons who 
can analyze a subject thoroughly without paper. Per- 
haps he was suffering from nerves, and really felt that 
he had lost all he had planned to say. Such attacks come 
upon old speakers at times. Perhaps the situation was 
such that he had to wait till he began, to decide upon one 
of several lines of thought to use; and in that sense he 
did not know what he would say. Perhaps what he said 
was literally true, and perhaps also he was about to make 
a failure. Remember, not all failures are set down as 
such. The speaker gets through after a fashion, perhaps 
says good things, perhaps gets applause ; yet does not ac- 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 401 

complish his purpose. Perhaps, after all, he did not 
know what he would say, and yet he did have a real 
success. Then he was a man of exceptional ability as a 
speaker, or had an unusual occasion, or unusual luck. 
He probably was a man of experience, and had been 
thinking and speaking much on the subject, and he soon 
hit a familiar trail. But why should a less experienced 
speaker think that he should attempt all that the experi- 
enced speaker does ? especially when he knows that most, 
even of the experienced speakers, are ineffective much of 
the time ? 

But if one really knows his subject thoroughly, it is 
said, he doesn't need an outline. That is a large '4f"; 
but if one really knows his subject thoroughly and sys- 
tematically he is in much better case than one of half 
knowledge. If he simply has a lot of miscellaneous in- 
formation about the subject, he is the most dangerous of 
speakers to let loose without an outline. He will have 
no sense of relations and values, and he will try to tell 
all he knows in a rambling fashion. The man of real 
mastery, it is true, will already have his ideas arranged 
in systematic form. Still, as he must usually limit his 
scope, he will need to select and arrange a scheme. Such 
a man is just the one who is most likely to make a careful 
outline. 

Even the speaker who has wide knowledge and has 
spoken much on his theme, often shows the need of an 
outline. Take, for example, the ordinary agitator for 
prohibition, women's suffrage, or socialism. He knows 
that he can talk freely on any part of his general subject, 
and he is likely to trust to luck. He knows that his 
partizans will applaud anyhow. And he moves on too 
rapidly from place to place really to gauge his effective- 
ness. I have in mind a speaker for socialism, a man of 



402 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

courage, intelligence, and more than average training in 
speaking; yet in a two-hour address he talked all over 
the subject of socialism, not sticking to any phase for 
five minutes, and often not even through one sentence. 
He reduced his subject to a state best compared to a ball 
of yarn after a session with a kitten. 

As for the objection that making an outline increases 
labor, the answer is that this is not true for one who 
wishes to do well. It saves labor, for it is easier to work 
certain defects out of a speech in the outline form than in 
any other. The objection is prompted by laziness, if one 
is to be brutally honest about the matter. It springs 
from the disinclination of the human animal to think. 
It is easier, as is said, to write a speech than to make an 
outline, — easier, that is, for a facile pen, or a glib tongue 
to run off five hundred or a thousand words, letting the 
associational process guide. But that is not thinking, 
and not the process by which one proceeds to a clearly 
conceived goal by wisely adapted means. It is easy to 
talk all day and yet say nothing. 

The analysis. Before one can make an outline of any 
value, he must have, of course, an analysis of his subject. 
This he should be making from the beginning of his think- 
ing and reading on his topic. When a speech will not 
come out right, or important points seem to have no place, 
or an argument is inconclusive, or an explanation inade- 
quate, the trouble is probably in the analysis. To analyze 
a subject is to resolve it into its parts and to determine 
their relations to the whole and to each other; or, in 
terms of outlines, to determine what is the central idea, 
what are the main-heads of the discussion, what are their 
relations to the central idea and to each other, and what 
are the subordinate and supporting ideas for each main- 
head. 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 403 

As was pointed out in Chapter IV, this process is much 
facilitated by jotting down each point on a separate card 
and arranging and re-arranging these till those which 
are most closely related are in one group. Simple 
schemes of analysis prove helpful. If you are dealing 
with an evil, you can usually arrange your material by 
this scheme : This is the evil ; this is the remedy ; it is the 
best remedy ; the objections to it are not sound. To illus- 
trate : The evil is starvation wages for women and chil- 
dren in the textile factories; the remedy is a minimum 
wage law; there is no other remedy so good; the objec- 
tions are not sound. Or one may say, This is the situa- 
tion we must deal with ; the method I propose will pro- 
duce such and such happy results; the opposite course 
will produce bad results. Or in exposition, This is 
the problem I have to explain (say a gas engine) ; these 
are the elements which must be treated (ignition, stroke, 
etc.) ; or, again. This is the story I have to tell; these are 
the main episodes into which it is divided. These simple 
devices are means of getting one's mental machinery 
started, of getting past the ''dead center," so to speak, 
which sometimes holds one when he faces a mass of 
material. 

The different persons, or classes, or interests involved 
may suggest an analysis. Suppose you have these notes : 
Giving tips. Eapid growth in the United States. Pa- 
trons in hotels have to pay annoying fees. Employees 
take little interest in work which brings no tips. Tipping 
makes pay uncertain. Tipping decreases the self-respect 
of employees. This matter given out in a class for rapid 
outlining has produced some weird arrangements; yet 
with the clue suggested it is very simple, as the following 
outline will show : 



404 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Introductiojs^ 
The rapid growth of the custom of tipping in this country has 
caused an agitation for its abolition. 
Tipping should be abolished. 

Discussion 
I. Tipping is bad for patrons ; for 

1. They have to pay annoying fees in order to get good 
service. 
II. Tipping is bad for employers ; for 

1. Employees take little interest in work which brings 
no tips. 
III. Tipping is bad for employees ; for 

1. It makes pay uncertain. 

2. It decreases self-respect. 

Conclusion 
Since tipping is bad for patrons, for employers and for em- 
ployees, it should be abolished. 

This is not a convincing argument, for lack of sufficient 
data and arguments ; but in arrangement it is clear and 
logical. Perhaps you can arrange it in a better way. 
Try it. 

Parts of the outline. First should stand the title. 
This should be short, but significant. Even in the rare 
case in which the speaker wishes to keep his audience in 
the dark as to his real position, he should have a title 
which, when read in the newspaper or announced by the 
chairman, will direct thought in the desired direction. 
Usually the title should announce the subject as plainly 
as possible. If one does not wish to say he is to speak 
for the abolition of the Monroe Doctrine, one may make 
his title. Shall we abolish the Monroe Doctrine ? I speak 
of the effect of the title upon the audience because this 
is the one part of the outline given to it. 

In the simplest outline the introduction should usually 
have two parts; and first, the approach sentence. This 
should contain a condensed statement of the idea relied 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 405 

upon to awaken preliminary interest, or to induce the 
desired mood, or it may contain needed information, — 
whatever the given situation demands. In some cases 
subheadings may be desirable. The approach should not 
be some inane, perfunctory thing, such as, ^^I wish to 
make a few remarks on capital punishment'' ; but should 
serve a definite purpose; and in the great majority of 
cases it should bear a plain relation to the topic, and not 
be a mere preliminary flourish. 

Next in the introduction there should stand a subject 
sentence. This should embody the central thought of 
the speech, the proposition to be proved, the problem to 
be explained, the thought to be amplified, etc. There 
are times when the approach sentence and the subject 
sentence may be one and the same, when the mere state- 
ment of the resolution or the problem awakens interest 
and furnishes all needed information ; but usually the in- 
troduction should have two parts. 

It is assumed in the form I am describing, and in the 
other forms suggested below, that the speaker will set 
forth early in his discourse what he proposes to prove, 
explain, or develop; and this is the normal procedure. 
It helps the audience to understand the bearing of each 
idea as it is brought forth, as is suggested in the excerpt, 
above, from Phillips Brooks. As for the infrequent cases 
in which one does not wish to state in advance what he 
proposes to do, and even does not wish to state this at 
all, I suggest that he still place the subject sentence in 
the outline in its normal position, but inclosed in brackets 
in order that he may make sure that it is clear to him- 
self. A clear and definite subject sentence is of the 
greatest importance to one making an outline ; for every 
other part should show a clear relation to this statement 
of the central idea. 



406 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

The arrangement of the discussion, with main-heads 
and subheads, can readily be grasped by study of the 
outlines given. The main-heads should be such state- 
ments as, being themselves established, will establish the 
contention set forth in the subject sentence, if one is 
outlining an argument ; or such as will, when explained 
themselves, make clear the main problem; or, if one is 
trying to impress an understood and accepted truth, the 
main-heads should be statements of the ideas chosen to 
impress it; and so on. The chief consideration is that 
these main-heads should clearly state a major division of 
the subject ; and should reveal an unmistakable relation 
to the subject sentence. And what is true of the main- 
heads in their relation to the subject sentence should 
be true of the subheads in their relation to their main- 
heads. But since the major considerations in regard to 
the discussion, as in regard to the outline as a whole, 
are matters of clearness and coherence, I prefer to treat 
them in detail under those headings. 

The conclusion, whether it is to be a summary of argu- 
ment or explanation, or is to draw a lesson, impress the 
major thought by a vivid restatement or illustration, 
make a plea for action, or do several of these things, 
should be a genuine conclusion, a real outgrowth of the 
speech, and so stated in the outline that it will be plainly, 
not something tacked on, but an integral part of the or- 
ganism. 

Clearness of the outline. Let the standard of clearness 
be, not clear merely to yourself, but clear to another who 
might read your outline. Just as a way of putting the 
idea, let us say, so clear that a reporter who does not hear 
your speech could make a just summary of it from your 
outline. First, an outline clear to one who reads it gives 
your critic a good chance to help you. And, in certain 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 407 

respects, he can help you more by criticising your outline 
than your completely written speech; for he can judge 
more readily its unity, coherence, order and logic. Sec- 
ondly, what you make clear to another is more surely 
clear to yourself. We often find that what we thought 
we had clearly in mind is far from clear when we at- 
tempt to express it. To the end of clearness and definite- 
ness, write only complete sentences in your outline. In 
the majority of cases, one who has made a catch-word 
outline will fail to answer clearly questions as to his 
meaning. The complete sentence, as is true of the whole 
outline, does not insure clear thinking, but it does make 
clear thinking more probable. If one will try to make 
each statement as clear and specific as possible, his grasp 
will surely grow. Do not write mere hints. 

Coherence of the outline. The outline is particularly 
valuable for securing coherence, and coherence should be 
its major virtue. If one makes a clear analysis of his 
subject, and then carries out the suggestions already 
given with reference to making each part of an outline 
show its relation to the other parts, and especially with 
reference to making the main-heads of the discussion 
show a clear relation to the subject sentence, and each 
subheading show a clear relation to its main-head, one 
will have a good start on a coherent outline. But sev- 
eral more specific suggestions can be made. 

First, let us be sure we understand this expression, ^'a 
clear relation. ' ' The relations should be manifest, with- 
out any explanation. They should stand out in the most 
evident way. If there is an unexpressed step between 
subhead and main-head, which has to be supplied, the 
outlining is not good. Look over the outline on military 
training, below, with this thought in mind. Again, each 
statement should contain but a single idea; for if there 



408 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

are two in one main-head, then the relation of the sub- 
heads is no longer plain. Consider the effect of com- 
bining in the outline on tipping, two main-heads : Tip- 
ping is bad for both patrons and employees. In simple 
cases no great confusion may be caused ; but experience 
proves that disregard of the two suggestions of this para- 
graph does usually cause confusion, and that the maker 
of an outline in which relations are not plainly manifest 
is usually himself confused. 

Avoid omnibus headings, such as those in the outline, 
below, on the ** no-treat system." Since any argument 
at all will go under them, they represent no gain in 
analysis, clearness, orderliness, or coherence. They bear 
no clear-cut reference to the central idea, and they con- 
tain no definite statement which one can say at a cer- 
tain point has been established or developed. 

The coherence of the outline is increased, that is, the 
relation of its parts is more evident, when the headings 
of equal rank can be expressed in similar terms and 
constructions. For example, compare the main-heads of 
the last form of the outline on the George Junior Re- 
public with those in the earlier forms. 

In seeking correct correlation and subordination, it is 
important to note whether one is making statements in 
addition to those already made, or in support of them, 
— a matter much neglected in practice. A handy test of 
correlation is to join the parts with the proper connective 
words and phrases. If one finds that the true connective 
between two statements is and, hut, yet, or, also, again, 
then the statements are coordinate, and stand in the 
same relation to the subject sentence, or to some main- 
head. One cannot be subordinate to the other. They 
take the same order of numerals. If one finds that the 
relation between two statements is expressed by for, 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 409 

since, 'because, then the clause governed by one of these 
is evidence of the truth of the other and subordinate to 
it. Or, if one is not arguing, he may find the relations 
expressed by such subordinating phrases as in order that, 
to enumerate, in that, to explain, to illustrate. It is 
best to write in these connective words, because they en- 
courage recognition of the true relations. 

Note that it is the custom always to put a main-head 
before its subheads; and since this is a well established 
custom, and since it would be confusing to have some 
paragraphs arranged one way and some the other, it is 
best to follow the custom, although in speaking you may 
follow the other order. So we may say that if you find 
yourself introducing a statement in the discussion part of 
your outline with hence, therefore, or other term implying 
that the support precedes the statement, you may know 
that your order is wrong. And if you have written your 
outline in this form : 

II. Employees take little interest in work which brings no tip, 
therefore 

1. Tipping is bad for employers- 
then you can see that the offense is not against form 
merely; for this arrangement places the major state- 
ment in a subordinate position, where its relation to the 
subject sentence is less evident. 

The consistent use of a system of numerals is advis- 
able, as making easier the recognition of relations. In- 
dentations are another mechanical aid. These need not 
be made so marked that the subheads are crowded to 
the extreme right of the page, but should be sufficient 
to catch the eye readily ; and they should be regular. 

How complete should the outline be? This question, 
often asked by students, cannot be answered with a rule. 
We may say that everything that has place in the speech 



410 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

should be covered by some statement in the outline ; and, 
conversely, that nothing should be put into the speech 
which is not a development of some part of the outline. 
For example, the little outline on tipping does not provide 
for any discussion of whether or not employees actually 
receive more or less money because of the tipping system ; 
but does provide for amplification and illustration of the 
statement that tipping makes pay uncertain. How far 
subdivision should be carried depends primarily upon 
how far analysis is to be carried in the speech. If the 
speaker on tipping is going to differentiate in his speech 
distinct ways in which tipping makes pay uncertain, 
then the outline should distinguish them by subheads 
under III, 1. 

How long the outline should be cannot be told dog- 
matically ; but if a speaker will use words without waste, 
he will be able to make a correct outline for a ten-minute 
speech, in most cases, on one side of a sheet of paper 
eight by ten inches in size. But one will need a great 
deal of paper to make a complete outline, if he writes 
such empty headings as those in the '^no-treat system'' 
outline, below. Note that each of the benefits hinted 
at in I, 1, 2, 3, of the outline on military training, below, 
could have been expressed in ten words. 

Summary. It will be convenient to have the principal 
suggestions in regard to outlines brought together in the 
form of test questions : 

1. Does your approach sentence serve a valid and use- 
ful purpose ? 

2. Does your subject sentence clearly and justly ex- 
press the central idea of the speech? 

3. Do the main-heads of the discussion, when read to- 
gether, constitute proof or a sufficient development of 
this central statement ? 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 411 

4. Do they reveal, as clearly as is feasible, their re- 
lations to each other ? 

5. Are your main supporting statements actually in 
major positions (main-heads) ? 

6. Do the subheads fully support the main-heads they 
stand under ? 

7. Is each subhead truly subordinate to the main-head 
it stands under ? 

8. Are correct subordinating words and phrases used 
to express the relations ? 

9. Are the relations of part to part beyond doubt, and 
so expressed as to be immediately evident ? 

10. Is your system of indentations and numerals con- 
sistent ? 

11. Are all statements as brief as is consistent with 
clearness ? 

12. Does each express an idea, not merely hint at it ? 

13. Does each state a single point? 

14. Does the outline as a whole cover all you wish to 
present ? 

15. Does it reveal as complete an analysis as you in- 
tend to employ in your speech ? 

A speech made from an outline which will bear these 
tests should measure up to the standard which Plato 
puts into the mouth of Socrates in the Phaedrus: 

'^This I think you will allow, that every speech ought 
to be put together like a living creature, with a body of 
its own, lacking neither head nor foot, but having both a 
middle and extremities in perfect keeping with one an- 
other and with the whole. ' ' 

Suggestions further illustrated. I wish to illustrate 
some of the foregoing suggestions with a simple outline. 
As it first came to me from a student unskilled in speech- 
making, it was of the Who-Which-What-Where order : 



412 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

The George Junior Republic 
What it is. 
Where it is. 
How it is run. 

This states nothing. It does not indicate any real 
analysis; but rather the kind of work described by a 
student who said of his outline, ' ' Oh, I just put down a 
few points that came into my head." No introduction 
or conclusion is indicated, and no point of view. The 
maker of this outline knew extremely little of his subject, 
and had no sense of values. He put the incidental point 
of location on an equality with the character and the 
management of the institution. What he would say 
under these heads was very vague in his mind. After 
some criticism and further study of the subject, the stu- 
dent brought in this : 

I. The George Junior Republic, a significant institution. One 
of the best philanthropic institutions of the age. 
II. "Nothing without labor." 

1. Vagrancy act. 

2. Trades. 

III. Form of government. 

1. Like United States. 

2. Legislature, judges, police, etc. 
IV» Good qualities developed. 

1. Equality. 

2. Earnestness and honesty. 

V. The Republic makes a lasting impression. 

It is evident that the speaker is progressing; he has 
more ideas and some definite impressions. But we do 
not yet know what the leading thought is; nor are we 
sure that he has any clear idea of his subject as a whole. 
There is no consistent point of view, no unity; there is 
a lack of statements ; the correlation is imperfect, and the 
main-heads show little relation. Under I, the subhead 
is not clearly subordinate to its heading. Under II, we 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 413 

can guess at the relations. Under III, 2 seems properly 
to be a subhead rather than a coordinate of 1. Under 
IV, equality is improperly classed as a quality. It is 
not in the same category as earnestness and honesty. 
No introduction or conclusion is marked as such; but 
assuming that the first division is the introduction, it 
does not show any clear relation to what follows. 
Another trial produced the following : 

Introduction 
The George Junior Republic is not a charity institution. 

Discussion 
I. "Nothing without labor." 
(Subheads as before.) 
II. Forms of government. 
(Same as before.) 
III. The Republic develops 

1. Democracy. 

2. Races and sexes. 

Conclusion 
Training at the Republic is training in citizenship. 

The faults are still glaring enough ; yet we do see some 
progress toward a real conclusion. Had the student la- 
bored on, his next stage might have been this : 

The George Junior Republic 
Introduction 

A. The George Junior Republic is not a charity institution. 

B. It is an institution for training in citizenship. 

Discussion 
I. The Republic trains for citizenship industrially ; in that 

1. Each citizen is impressed with the duty of self-support. 

a. The motto and policy of the Republic is, "Nothing 
without labor." 

2. Each learns how to support himself. 

a. Each must learn a trade. 
II. The Republic trains for the civil duties of citizenship ; in that 
1. It is governed by laws made and executed by its citizens. 



414 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

2. Its forms of government are similar to those of the 

greater Republic. 

3. Citizens learn by experience the need of protection for 

person and property. 

4. They learn also the evils arising from inefficient or cor- 

rupt government. 

Conclusion 

Citizens of the Junior Republic are trained for citizenship by 
actual experience. 

Questions might be raised in regard to this outline; 
but it has many virtues : It has, first, an introductory 
sentence which constitutes an approach to the audience, 
by matching on to their existing impressions in regard to 
the subject ; for those who know a little about the Repub- 
lic (and the speech was planned for them) are likely to 
suppose that it is a sort of charity boys' home. This 
opening statement is not merely something to get started 
with ; but it helps to get rid of a false preconception, and 
prepares the way for the right conception. (Compare 
the approach sentence of the outline, below, on military 
training.) The outline has clearness, unity, coherence 
and order. It has a definite subject sentence, and to this 
each main-head is plainly related. They are also clearly 
related to each other. Each subhead also is clearly re- 
lated to its main-head. The conclusion is plainly the out- 
growth of the discussion, and shows its relation to the 
subject sentence. 

A few more outlines are added for criticism as to 
their good and bad features. They are printed sub- 
stantially as they were handed in. In the first I have 
omitted the student's subheads. 

Introduction 

The **no-treat" system a former custom at Cornell. 
Seems to have been forgotten. 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 415 

Discussio:^ 

I. Some arguments in favor of not treating. 
II. Important arguments generally overlooked. 

Conclusion 

Cornell should set an example to other colleges. 

You will observe that there is no subject sentence, no 
statement to prove, although this is evidently intended 
as an argument. But if we supply the statement. The 
^^ no-treat'' system should be made permanent at Cor- 
nell, then we see that the main-heads do not support the 
assertion, do not reveal any analysis of the question, 
and in fact are waste of space. As a matter of fact, the 
arguments which stood under either one might as well 
have stood under the other. They should have been re- 
lated directly to the subject sentence. You will observe 
further that the conclusion is rather a surprise than a 
natural outgrowth. 

Value of Univeesal Mn^iTAEY Training in High Schools 

Introduction 

A. Universal military training would not make the United States 

an aggressive nation. 

B. This training would prepare the United States to resist ag- 

gression. 

Discussion 

I. There are many benefits derived from this training. 

1. Benefit derived by the student. 

2. Benefit derived by the school. 

3. Benefit derived by the government. 

II. Illustration of the folly of unpreparedness in the past. 
1. Our lack of preparation in the Civil War. 
III. Preparedness through universal training best insurance 
against Tvar. 

1. No nation will attack a well armed and prepared na- 

tion. 

2. Age of universal peace has not been reached yet. 



416 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Conclusion 
The folly of the past by being unprepared is a lesson that we 
must be prepared through universal training to-day. 

Osborne's Prison Reform Plan 
Introduction 

A. Warden Osborne's plan appeals to the prisoner's sense of honor. 

B. It is a good plan and should be continued. 

Discussion 
I. It benefits the State ; for 

1. It increases the output of manufactured goods. 

2. It reduces expenses ; for 

a. Fewer wardens are required. 

b. It turns out men resolved not to return to prison. 
II. It benefits the prisoner; for 

1. It preserves his health. 

2. It prepares him for life after he gets out. 

Conclusion 
Osborne's plan is a good one and should be continued. 
Concrete examples of Osborne's work. 

The form of outline illustrated above can usually be 
followed in arranging simple speeches of all kinds; and 
the forms suggested below do not differ from it in essen- 
tials. But certain elaborations, particularly of the in- 
troduction, are worth considering with reference to less 
simple speeches. 

The classical form. The classical form of oration 
grew out of the work of the rhetoricians who in ancient 
Greece wrote speeches for pleaders in the courts. It is 
naturally best adapted to the argumentative speech. 
It is said to have been formulated first by Corax, a Sicil- 
ian, about twenty-four hundred years ago; and it has, 
with modifications, served as the standard for orators 
down to our time. Andrew D. White, whose broad ex- 
perience and recognized ability give weight to his opinion, 
has often expressed the conviction that this classical 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 4l7 

form has so long held the field because it is the best pos- 
sible form, just as the Corinthian pillar is the best possi- 
ble pillar. In many trying emergencies, he says, this 
plan has helped him in throwing his thoughts quickly into 
order. 

^ ' ' Corax . . . framed four divisions : introduction, 
narration, proof, and conclusion. Aristotle, a number of 
years later, reaches practically the same result, although 
his designation is slightly different; he also has four 
divisions: exordium, exposition, proof, and peroration. 
The first important deviation from this plan is made by 
Cicero, who adds two new divisions, thus making in all 
six: introduction, narration, proposition, proof, refuta- 
tion, and conclusion. ' ' 

I will briefly describe the five divisions which seem to 
me worth emphasizing : 

1. The exordium. This word, by its derivation, means 
the beginning of weaving, the laying of the warp; and 
it suggests that from the very first words of a speech 
we should be carrying out a plan. It is a better word 
than introduction, when one is separating the beginning 
of a speech into parts, for the introduction includes, in 
modern terminology, all down to discussion. What the 
exordium shall consist of it is useless to attempt to say, 
except in the most general way. "Whatever will help in 
getting on good terms with your hearers, in getting them 
interested, thinking on the right line, and listening with 
fairness. It is, as Cicero tells us, the part to be prepared 
last, after one knows well what he has to introduce. 
Often it is lost in the next division. 

2. The exposition. This term is better than narration, 
for narration is only one way of explaining. This part 
includes whatever is needed in the way of preliminary 

1 Ringwalt, Modern American Oratory, p. 53. 



418 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

definition and explanation, the history and origin of the 
question, etc. 

3. The partition-! I accept Kingwalt's suggestion of 
substituting this term for proposition, which is limited 
to argument. By whatever name it is described, this 
division includes the speaker's statement about what he 
proposes to set forth, — what he proposes to do and does 
not propose to do. 

4. Discussion. This is a better term for general use 
than proof, which also belongs to argument. 

5. Peroration or conclusion. The term peroration is 
now usually reserved for the most pretentious sort of 
speech. 

The classical form is certainly valuable to have in 
mind, to be used on many occasions, perhaps on most; 
though one may question if it is best for all speeches, 
just as one may question if the Corinthian pillar is best 
for all places. The classical form may seem too elab- 
orate for some speeches ; but it does contain, in the normal 
order, the elements which are needed in most. And al- 
though in the speeches of to-day the divisions are often 
not strongly marked, analysis will show usually that 
they are present in speeches that are well ordered. Look 
over, for example, the speeches of Phillips. 

You will see that the classical form corresponds roughly to the 
scheme of parts set down in modern works on debating, and fol- 
lowed to some extent in the discussion of the Approach to the 
Audience in Chapter IX. It will be well to compare what is said 
here with that discussion and also with the treatment of the sub- 
ject in a good work on debating. Foster's Argumentation and De- 
hating (Chapter X) is suggested. Though Foster's scheme is 
rather rigid, the student of speaking will profit by following it 
through strictly with at least three or four complete arguments. 

Another form of outline. I will here lay out a speech 
plan which combines many of the suggestions made in 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 419 

this and in other chapters. I use the term approach as 
more suggestive than introduction. 

The Approach 

A. Exordium. 

B. Explanations. 

C. Elimination of irrelevant matter. 

D. Concessions. 

E. Common ground. 

F. Issues. 

G. Partition or proposition. 

Discussion 

Conclusion 

You will understand that this is offered, not as some- 
thing to be followed rigidly under all circumstances, but 
as something to help you in your arrangement. Some 
such form should be followed, unless you are sure in a 
given case that you have something better. Not all of 
these parts are needed in every speech, and several of 
them may blend together. All down to E may, in some 
speeches, be means of getting on common ground ; but all 
these parts should be taken into account in any speech 
for belief or action. 

The order may be changed much by the exigencies of 
an occasion. In a legislative debate, for example, one 
might wish to begin, without introduction, on a rebuttal 
argument. At times there may be no divisions at all. 
But this admission in regard to the exceptional speech, 
is not available for the lazy speaker who wishes an excuse 
for not recognizing the divisions which should be present 
in his speech. 



420 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

If the speech is expository, there is not often need of so 
much elaboration of the opening as in argumentative 
speeches; though there is usually need for preliminary 
explanations of the problem and what is to be attempted, 
and there is often need of awakening interest, and some- 
times of avoiding prejudice. Usually the approach will 
not need more than these divisions : Common ground of 
interest, Explanation and Partition. 

Descriptive and narrative speeches do not differ greatly 
from expository speeches in regard to outlines. Fre- 
quently the descriptive speech cannot be distinguished 
from the expository except by purpose. Students some- 
times think that a narrative speech cannot be outlined; 
yet there are in a story more or less distinct episodes, as 
in a play there are acts and scenes. No kind of speech 
more needs orderly progress than the narrative. What 
seems simple and natural in a well told story is prob- 
ably the result of careful planning and experimentation. 

Use of the outline. Note, first, since some have trouble 
over this point, that an outline is not the same as a brief. 
A brief, in common usage, is a complete analysis of the 
arguments for or against a resolution; and may not 
be the outline of a speech at all, or of a written 
argument. Its purpose is to reveal to one preparing 
for a debate what resources he has to draw from. He 
might base many different speeches upon it, paying no 
attention to its order and using but a small part of 
its material in any one. The outline resembles the brief 
somewhat in form and purpose; but the outline is the 
plan of a particular speech, the road map which, with 
certain limitations, is to be followed. And outlines are 
for speeches of all kinds, not merely for the argumenta- 
tive. 

Certain limitations have already been noted in regard 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 421 

to following the outline. First, one may wish to sup- 
press in his speech the statement of aim embodied in 
the introduction of his outline, not stating this in plain 
terms until later in his speech, or even not at all. Sec- 
ondly, one often wishes in his speech to place support- 
ing statements before the idea supported ; and sometimes 
he may feel it unnecessary to state this at all. For ex- 
ample, if one gives one or more incidents which impress 
strongly Lincoln's sagacity, he may not wish, either be- 
fore or after the examples, to make the generalization of 
his outline, ^^ Lincoln was a sagacious man." It is fre- 
quently best to let the audience draw its own inference, 
and this is especially true when the inference is unpleas- 
ant; as, for example, ''John Smith is a liar." 

Thirdly, the speaker, in writing his speech from his 
outline, or in extemporizing from it, should not feel 
bound to follow it when he becomes convinced that he 
can do better by making a departure. But he should 
not without the best of reasons depart from his carefully 
ordered and correlated plan. In general, there should 
be an intelligent, not a blind, use of the outline. 

If the speaker is to extemporize from his outline, he 
should work over the thought until he is sure he can de- 
velop it clearly, adequately and impressively; until he 
is sure that he has at command facts and illustrations 
which he can put pithily, and, in particular, words and 
phrases with which he can express the more difficult and 
important parts. Especial attention should be given to 
the transitions, for it is at a transition, ninety -nine times 
out of a hundred, that the speaker who staggers or 
breaks down, meets his difficulty. 

Inexperienced speakers should practise their speeches 
after the outline is made. Practice will clarify ideas, 
bring to mind varied ways of expressing them, increase 



422 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

grasp and confidence, and, if one speaks to a vividly 
imagined audience, tend to bring one into the speaking 
frame of mind. Experienced speakers will find out what 
methods are best for them ; but experienced speakers will 
not hesitate, when anxious to do well, to practise their 
speeches. 

Since speakers almost invariably underestimate the 
time their speeches will require, they will do well to 
practise with timepiece at hand. 

One may take his outline to the platform and lay it 
upon the desk; and this may be advisable for those of 
treacherous memory upon important occasions. For the 
student of speaking, and especially until he acquires a 
good degree of directness, it is better to leave the out- 
line behind. And it is safe to say that most audiences 
like this way better. One who is to speak without his 
outline before him, should fix it very firmly in mind. 
This will be much easier if its headings are so expressed 
as to make relations boldly evident. 

In conclusion. Careful planning is as necessary to 
the speaker as to one who would build a house or go on a 
journey in an economical and efficient way. This whole 
book proceeds on the assumption that one will accom- 
plish a purpose best when he knows precisely what it is 
and considers the best means to the end. Contrary 
views are prompted, in most cases, by indolence, the native 
disinclination to think, or by the mistaken notion that we 
can under ordinary circumstances depend upon inspira- 
tion. There is something we call inspiration, but it 
helps those who first help themselves. To trust to it is 
usually to talk glibly but ineffectively. The best in- 
spiration arises from the knowledge that one is thoroughly 
prepared with facts and arguments, that these are clearly 
thought out and arranged, and that they can be fittingly 



PLANS AND OUTLINES 423 

expressed; and, further, that what one has to say is of 
interest and importance to the audience. The young 
speaker should not hope to do all that he observes vet- 
erans doing ; though he should hope by training himself 
to surpass many of those veterans. I have had no de- 
sire, however, to lay down rigid rules for the speaker; 
nor have I endeavored to give you methods to take the 
place of good subject-matter. All we teachers can hope 
to do is to help you in becoming intelligent in regard to 
speech-making. 



CHAPTER XIII 

FURTHER ANALYSIS OF MENTAL ACTION AS AFFECTING 

DELIVERY 

In Chapter II we examined, in a somewhat general 
way, the action of the speaker's mind during delivery. 
It became evident that a high degree of attention is 
called for ; and in later chapters we considered what can 
be done to build up ideas so that attention to them shall 
be as easy as possible, even effortless. In this chapter 
I wish to return to the subject of delivery. If one de- 
livers speeches prepared in accordance with the sugges- 
tions of Chapters VI to XII, he will presumably come 
to have the ^^keen sense of communication" set down in 
Chapter II as one of the grand essentials of good deliv- 
ery; but something remains to be said of the other, the 
*^full realization of the content of your words as you 
utter them," and especially something more definite 
with reference to the action of the mind in relating idea 
to idea. 

To attend to an idea means that one holds it in the 
focus of consciousness, excluding for the time the swarm 
of other ideas and sensations that constantly bid for 
attention. '^We cannot attend at the same moment to 
all the ideas that make up a consciousness; the ^ grasp' 
of attention is limited."^ We can think clearly and 
definitely one thing at a time. We cannot attend to all 
the thought of even a short speech at once, or of the 

1 Titchener, A Primer of Psychology, p. 75. 

424 



FURTHER STUDY OF DELIVERY 425 

ordinary paragraph, or of any but the shortest sentence. 
We may hold in mind a summary of a speech; but the 
summary is only the thought generalized, without its 
definite, specific phases. If we are to have definite 
thinking, we must also focus, or center, upon each suc- 
cessive detail. 

But it does not follow that at a given .instant we are 
oblivious of all but the one idea, as an isolated thing. 
Just as when one focuses his eyes upon a dot at the cen- 
ter of a circle, he is still aware of the white background 
and of the fact that it is the center of a circle ; so when 
one fixes attention upon an idea he is still aware that it 
is related to other ideas which form its background and 
its margin.^ Moreover, having focused upon an idea, 
the mind turns definitely to the relations of that idea 
to other ideas. 

James says^ of the ''stream of consciousness," that 
*'like a bird's life, it seems to be an alternation of flights 
and perchings. . . . The resting-places are usually occu- 
pied by sensorial images of some sort, . . ; the places of 
flight are filled with thoughts of relations.'' So we may 
say that the speaker's mind should dwell definitely upon 
successive ideas, and also maintain a sense of their rela- 
tions. 

Centering and phrasing. The term centering has been 
used to indicate this focusing or prolonging of attention 
upon an idea until it stands out in relief from other 
ideas. By a phrase we mean a word or a group of words 
containing such a part of the thought as the mind fo- 
cuses upon, or what amounts to the same thing, contain- 
ing a center of attention; and by phrasing we refer to 

1 "Whenever our experience shows the pattern of vivid center and 
dim background, of bright focus and obscure margin, then we have 
attention before us.'* Titchener, A Beginner's Psychology, p. 92. 

2 Psychology: Briefer Course, p. 160. 



426 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

the action of the voice in marking a phrase, whether by 
pause, or by change of rate, pitch or tone color. The 
term phrase is not to be confused with the grammarian's 
use of the same word. It is convenient to treat center- 
ing and phrasing together; for, by definition, every 
phrase embodies a thought center and there is a phrase 
for every center. There should be no difficulty in keep- 
ing the terms distinct when we consider that centering is 
a mental action and phrasing is a matter of words. To 
avoid a common misunderstanding, note here that every 
word of a sentence is a part, or the whole, of some phrase. 
The physical manifestation of centering is emphasis, 
whether this be shown in increased force, pause, inflec- 
tion, or other manner. While true emphasis is of high 
importance, we shall say little of it as such ; for the term 
too strongly suggests a mechanical application of force. 
We shall do better to think and speak of the mental act 
of centering ; and we should make sure that our emphasis 
springs from alert thinking and a keen realization 
as we speak of the relative importance of ideas and of 
their relations. 

There may be place for the study of word emphasis ; for example, 
in working out a difficult passage in Shakespeare : but at present 
we should let it alone. We do not now need it, for we are learning 
a better way. Besides it is a marvelously intricate subject. To 
take some easy examples: *'What is nature to him?" Suppose 
you decide to emphasize nature^ or perhaps him. You may in either 
case give quite a wrong meaning because you have failed to con- 
sider whether the question is sincere, or a sneer. I heard a speaker 
say, "The minimum wage law will mitigate the evils of child labor," 
emphasizing the correct word, mitigate^ but giving it an explosive 
emphasis which indicated that he did not approve of such mitiga- 
tion. So it is quite possible to emphasize the right word and give 
the wrong meaning. It is possible, if one has great skill in deter- 
mining the right words to emphasize, the right sort of emphasis to 
give them, the right inflections, etc., to succeed in the delivery of 
these and far more difficult sentences ; but in order to do so one 



FURTHER STUDY OF DELIVERY 427 

must first gain such an understanding of them as, kept vigorously 
in mind, will prompt the true delivery without thought of emphasis 
or inflection. Take another simple case : A speaker said, ''Lin- 
coln was snatched from obscurity," yielding to a tendency common, 
when the mind is sluggish, to stress any strong word regardless of 
sense. If it be said that the speaker should have noted which is 
the emphatic word, the answer is that rather he should have kept 
his mind aw^ake. xA.nd this case suggests another fact, that often 
no one word bears all the stress. Surely not all rests here on 
ohscurity. Very wonderful schemes have been worked out to indi- 
cate the course of the voice in all cases, but these are so intricate 
that few ever succeed in learning them ; and, worst of all, these 
mechanical devices get in the w^ay of thinking. Please note, that 
nowhere in this chapter are you asked to decide which word is em- 
phatic ; and please understand that nowhere is it intended to sug- 
gest mechanical as opposed to mental action. 

Centering and phrasing are not fixed and unchanging; 
but they vary as one 's conception of a passage varies, as 
the context varies, or as the speaker conceives the content 
to be more or less familiar or difficult to his hearers. 

Note how the centers shift in Emerson's sentence, "If I should 
make the shortest list of the qualifications of an orator, I should 
begin with manliness," according to whether we assume that there 
has been no preceding discussion, or that there has been a discus- 
sion about orators, or statesmen, or soldiers, or about the qualifi- 
cations of orators, or lists of qualifications. 

To study another illustration : "If ignorance and corruption 
and intrigue control the primaries, and manage the conventions, 
and dictate the nominations, the fault is in the honest and intelli- 
gent workshop and office, in the library and parlor, in the church 
and the school." Taking this sentence without context, each detail 
may call for a modicum of attention and we shall have many cen- 
ters. Ignorance, corruption, and intrigue are by no means syno- 
nyms; each is a distinct cause of political ills. We may say that 
each of these three words ends a phrase. If the thought is very 
analytic, this would be right. If, however, we conceive that the 
main point of the sentence is elsewhere, we shall probably throw 
the three evils together as a thought unit, the collective cause of 
political ills, — and end the phrase with intrigue. This will be bet- 
ter, for if we give attention to too many details, we shall get no 
unified impression from the sentence. So too the successive stages 
of candidate-making may be considered separately, making three 



428 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

phrases ; or, less analytically, as but one whole, though this last 
is hardly probable. If the fact of fault is the main thought of 
the sentence, then a phrase will end with fault; but if that is taken 
for granted and the chief point is thought to be whose fault, then 
probably office, parlor, and church will end the remaining phrases. 
If the distinction between workshop and office is thought of dis- 
tinctly they will form distinct centers ; but if they are thought of 
together as representative of business, there will be but one phrase. 
The more analytic treatment would be extreme and would lead to 
labored delivery. 

Taking the sentence in its context, the case is much simpler. 
(See, at the end of Chapter XIV, the selection Who is to Blame?) 
We iSnd that the whole sentence is a restatement, for purposes of 
transition and increased definiteness, of what has been said or 
implied in the preceding paragraph. On closer analysis we find 
that, considering the context both before and after this sentence, 
the especial purpose is to emphasize who is at fault. Since the 
thought at this stage is familiar, our thought units can be larger, 
and this is especially true of the less important parts. A mind 
keenly alive to the relation of this sentence to the whole, will be 
likely to take in all to intrigue at one *'spurt" of attention ; to note 
in very rapid succession the three stages of the process of nomina- 
tion ; and to pass over the idea of fault, which is already clearly 
in mind, letting it fall into the phrase with "workshop and office." 
The phrases then will end with intrigue, meeting, convention, nomi- 
nation, office, parlor, and school. As has been indicated, the dura- 
tion of attention upon the phrases will vary with their importance, 
and this means their importance at the moment. 

While phrasing is often variable, this is not always 
true. There are some expressions that will not bear 
breaking. For example, The United States of America 
could under only the most unusual conditions be con- 
ceived as two thought units. It is as much a unit, a 
single name, as Fra^ice, It would be as proper to sepa- 
rate in thought and delivery the two syllables of the 
name Fuller, or the two parts of John Smith. The Con- 
stitution of the United States of America is likewise a 
single name. 

That phrasing and centering are variable should not 
lead one to assume that they may be left to chance, habit, 



FURTHER STUDY OF DELIVERY 429 

rhythm, or the necessities of breathing. It is important 
that the speaker think in the true units so that he may 
convey the true units to his audience. Confused center- 
ing means confused thinking on the part of the speaker, 
which will cause confused expression and, therefore, con- 
fused understanding on the part of the hearer. 

The youth who declaimed: *'My name is Norval on the Gram- 
pian Hills, — my father feeds his flock a frugal swain," did not 
mean to imply that his name was different in the Lowlands, and 
had only his slovenly thinking to blame when some of his puzzled 
mates thought he said his father fed a flock of frugal swine. The 
banquet orator who proposed the toast, "Woman without her man 
' — would be a savage!" did not make a hit with the ladies in the 
balcony ; and there was a just grievance when a preacher in a fish- 
ing town changed the written request sent up by a good wife, *'A 
man going to sea, his wife requests the prayers of the church," 
into, "A man going to see his wife — requests the prayers of the 
church." The importance of thinking in the true units may be 
seen in attempting to unravel this : *'That that is is that that is 
not is not." 

One may not often fall into as amusing results as some 
of those mentioned above, but centering as absurd in fact 
is common enough. And strangely enough, bad center- 
ing is nearly as common in delivering the speaker's own 
matter as when interpreting another's. "Whenever the 
attention slips from content and relations are forgotten, 
the voice may run units together, or halt and break up 
units, and so throw upon the hearer the burden of analy- 
sis or perplex him utterly. But when the mind alertly 
notes each point, the voice will guide the hearer's atten- 
tion aright and listening will be easy. 

How much centering. We should center, not merely 
upon the major ideas of a sentence or paragraph, but also 
upon each detail which is necessary for a true grasp of 
the thought, passing over those which serve their pur- 
pose while remaining in the ''fringe of consciousness." 



430 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Another way to put it is, that we should focus upon 
each part of the thought we wish the minds of our hear- 
ers momentarily to dwell upon. How long attention will 
dwell upon each part of the thought depends upon its 
importance in the speaker's mind. The time may vary 
from a hardly appreciable instant to several seconds. 

This leads us to consider certain common faults. 
First, is the fault of centering too infrequently, — at- 
tempting to take and give the thought in too large units. 
This is the fault of one 's whose mind skims over the sur- 
face, taking only a bird's-eye view. The result is that 
neither speaker nor hearer is able to grasp the thought 
definitely, or gain more than a general understanding. 

But the more serious fault, akin to this, is failure to 
center long enough and firmly enough upon each phrase. 
The chief reason a beginner usually speaks too fast is 
that he does not think enough as he goes. This results 
in vagueness of delivery and indistinctness of impression 
upon the hearer. He may have understood clearly in 
preparation; he may have a bare understanding as he 
speaks ; but he does not grasp the thought in its fullness. 
His mind should receive a distinct impression from each 
phrase. And more than that, the audience must have 
time to think. There is need, therefore, for the delibera- 
tion which is characteristic of most experienced speak- 
ers. There is little good in just trying to go slow; the 
effort often results in yet greater rapidity. The speaker 
who talks too rapidly should impress upon himself the 
importance of gaining distinct impressions, full realiza- 
tion of the content of his words, and of giving his audi- 
ence time to think. He should fix firmly in mind the 
truth that his audience cannot move as rapidly as he 
can. They are not so familiar with his line of thought. 
If they are to see the pictures suggested, compare his 



FURTHER STUDY OF DELIVERY 431 

statements with their experience, in a word, think back 
to him, they must have time. In particular he should 
impress upon his mind the truth that he fails unless he 
provokes reaction in his hearers, and causes them to re- 
late his words to their knowledge, beliefs and experience. 
In brief, the too rapid speaker should think more, and 
give his hearers time to think more. 

It will be found very helpful for one practising de- 
livery to insert words and phrases which, while they are 
not necessary to an expression of the thought when de- 
livery is adequate, will serve to accentuate the relations 
both of idea to idea and of the ideas to the audience. 
The use of such phrases sharpens thinking and causes 
the speaker to take time enough. After practising with 
these extra w^ords inserted aloud, one may then practise 
the same passage with them inserted mentally only. He 
may then practise the same passage without the effort 
to think in particular words, but making sure that he 
does realize fully the relations they accentuated. It will 
be found that this practice will improve expression, not 
only in respect to rate, but in many other ways. 

We may illustrate the foregoing from the selection Who is to 
Blame? Before Sentence 3, one may throw in, ''Voting is neces- 
sary, but — " ; and after the same sentence, "Does n't your experi- 
ence confirm that?" Beginning with the Sentence 11, we make 
the passage read: "And within a few years, [I am not talking 
theory, but present-day facts], as a result of this indifference to 
the details of public duty, the most powerful politician in the 
Empire State of the Union [in the state of the greatest wealth, 
population, and political influence] was [a man who might justly 
be called] Jonathan Wild the Great, the captain of a band of 
plunderers. I know it is said [the cheap excuse is common] that 
the knaves have taken the honest man in a net, and have contrived 
machinery which will inevitably grind only the grist of rascals. 
The answer is [and it is a complete answer, fact against theory ; 
you cannot get away from it], that when honest men did once 
what they ought to do always, the thieves were netted and their 



432 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

machine was broken. To say [as you do] that in this country the 
rogues must rule, is [not only] to defy history [as I have just 
shown you, but what is vastly more serious, it is] to despair of 
the republic. [Did you realize that?]" This method of practice 
will be further illustrated below when we speak more specifically 
of relations. 

"We must now consider faults of centering and phras- 
ing whicli are quite the opposite of those discussed: 
focusing too frequently and prolonging attention un- 
duly upon minor ideas. It is of high importance to un- 
derstand the significance of every word and phrase, but 
not every idea should come into the focus of attention 
during delivery. They serve their purpose while remain- 
ing in the background, or in the fringe of consciousness. 
Just as some things ^^go without saying," so some go 
with saying, and without special attention. If attention 
is directed to everything, then nothing stands out, and 
unity of delivery will be lacking. The sentences will, as 
it were, fall into bits. The audience will be wearied, 
because each insignificant point will be forced upon its 
attention, and because of lack of movement in the deliv- 
ery. Take as an example: ^^ About one-third — of our 
country — was originally covered — ^with the most mag- 
nificent forests." One cannot really think ''about one- 
third" alone. ''About one-third of our country" is the 
true unit. The rest is a single picture and can be readily 
grasped at one instant. 

As we have already seen in considering how the phras- 
ing of a sentence may vary, the number of centers in a 
sentence depends upon the context and the situation to 
a great extent. The more analytic the mood and the 
more difficult and unfamiliar the thought, the more nu- 
merous the centers. 

The effect upon delivery of unduly prolonging atten- 
tion upon ideas that do deserve direct notice, but are yet 



FURTHER STUDY OF DELIVERY 433 

strictly subordinate, is much the same as focusing upon 
ideas that should be left entirely in the background. 
This is well illustrated by giving too much attention to 
the three parts of ^^ control the primary meeting, and 
manage the convention, and dictate the nomination," in 
Sentence 15 of the selection. Who is to Blame. If in 
the sentence, ^'And Paul stretched forth his hand, and 
began to defend himself, ' ' the first clause receives much 
attention, it will seem a needless detail ; but if it receives 
a bare glance and is strictly subordinated to the second 
clause, it will serve its purpose of adding a striking de- 
tail to the picture. 

There is also to be noted a sort of false centering which 
occurs at such words as iut, and, that, which, are, and 
other connective and introductory words, which should 
ordinarily blend with what follows. There are times 
when attention should dwell upon the relations which 
these words represent, but such times are rare. This 
false centering is sometimes due to conventional reading 
habits, or to an erroneous belief that we should ^^mind 
our pauses," meaning the punctuation. But punctation 
has nothing to do with delivery. A punctuation mark 
may or may not coincide with the end of a phrase ; as in, 
' ' Oh, yes, I am young, I know ; but youth. Sir, is not my 
only crime." False phrasing most often arises from 
wandering attention or inability to think what comes 
next. Instead of pausing till he has a grip on his next 
clause, the speaker begins, *'But — " and then, like the 
parson in ''The One-Hoss Shay," ''stops perplexed at 
what the — Moses — is coming next ! ' ' 

It should be noted that phrases are not always followed by 
pauses, being indicated, also, as already said, by other elements, 
such as rate, pitch, and tone color ; and pause for emphasis may 
fall in the midst of a phrase. For example, in the first sentence 



434 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

of the second paragraph of the Curtis selection, the three phrases 
"control the primaries and manage the conventions and dictate the 
nominations," might well be given without pause. On the other 
hand, in "Woman ! without her, man would be a savage,'* a speaker 
might pause before "a savage," although it is not a phrase. In 
the second sentence of the selection referred to, there might be a 
pause after "essentially'* if the speaker's mind were strongly 
caught by that thought ; yet undoubtedly the words "of his political 
duty" belong in the phrase with the preceding words, for as merely 
echoing "public duty" they hold no meaning upon which the mind 
should rest. It should be noted also from the last example, that 
phrases do not necessarily end with important words. 

On the whole, the fault of centering too little is more 
common than of centering too much. What is needed 
is complete understanding of each idea, large and small ; 
but with this must go an appreciation of the relative im- 
portance of each in the speech. This involves, as we 
have seen, a keen realization of the relations of idea to 
idea. With such a realization, one is in a fair way to 
speak with correct emphasis, pitch, rate, tone color, and 
in particular, with proper inflection. 

Relations of ideas. Some are principal ideas, some 
subordinate; some are related as cause and effect; some 
are repetition or echo, some new thoughts; some are 
contrasted with others, some are concessive rather than 
in support of the main thought, and so on through all 
possible relations of ideas to each other and to the cen- 
tral theme. 

Distinguish principal and subordinate ideas. Much 
poor work, showing itself peculiarly in bad centering and 
consequent false emphasis, is due to failure to discrim- 
inate values. Attention should vary with degree of im- 
portance. This does not mean the absolute value of an 
idea, but its value in its place with reference to the larger 
thought one is expressing. The principle of this para- 
graph has already been illustrated with the sentence 



FURTHER STUDY OF DELIVERY 435 

beginning, ''If ignorance, corruption, etc.,'' and will be- 
come clearer from what follows. 

Echo and new idea. The word new here has no refer- 
ence to novelty or originality, but refers to an idea that 
has not appeared before in the particular discussion. 
Echo is the recurrence of an idea already expressed. 
The echo may or may not be in the same words as the 
part referred to. It most frequently refers to the im- 
mediately preceding, but may refer to any preceding 
part. If you will turn to the Curtis selection you will 
note that vote in the second sentence echoes voting in the 
first and political duty echoes public duty, and that very 
heart echoes essentially in the same sentence. Every 
sentence in this selection, after the first, contains one or 
more echoes. They are especially numerous in the last 
part of the last sentence. Almost any sentence in a 
speech may be considered a link in a chain, reaching both 
forward and backward. It is this interlinking which 
gives firmness of structure, and where it is absent the 
style is abrupt and liable to be disjointed. "When the 
echoes are not clearly distinguished, deli\"ery will also 
be disjointed and lacking in coherence. They have been 
called the '^connective tissue" of language. 

A fine example of coherence through echo is found in Lincoln's 
Gettysburg Address (see Index). Analyze for new idea and echo 
the first four sentences. Note in particular how might live echoes 
endure. Then turn to the last sentence of the speech and note the 
echoes from the opening sentences, and see how the last phrase, 
usually read with flat dullness, is really charged with meaning by 
the echo of endure by shall not perish. As an example of an im- 
portant echo, take the words has failed at the end of the second 
sentence of the second paragraph of the Curtis selection. Deter- 
mine what they echo. This hard sentence, and indeed the whole 
paragraph, is unintelligible unless this echo is clearly recognized. 
There are in any composition numerous echoes, recognition of 
which, although they may be less important than some of those 



436 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

referred to, is necessary for informing the voice with the true 
meaning. 

That the new idea must be recognized is too obvious 
for illustration. In the majority of cases, it is the new 
idea which for the moment is of chief importance; it is 
the one now to be impressed. The echo, on the other 
hand, is already in mind and is often given chiefly for 
the purpose of keeping relations clear. Nevertheless, it 
may be, in a given case, the most important part of a 
sentence, as in the case of repetition for emphasis. 

In the sentence, "For prosperous labor, industry, and commerce, 
three conditions are necessary : first, liberty ; second, liberty ; third, 
liberty," the third liberty, though bearing the same meaning as the 
j5rst, is much more significant. The echoes, noted above, from the 
Gettysburg Address, might live and shall not perish, are certainly 
large with meaning. 

A new idea is not necessarily important, though it 
usually should have some attention. When Lincoln said, 
*'Now we are in a great civil war," etc., the fact of war 
was too obvious to need much attention, though a ^'new 
idea," but the new idea of testing free government was 
a major point. So while this method of analysis is an 
aid in our study, neither it nor any other method can 
relieve us from the use of our brains. 

The term echo is hardly adequate, though the one ordi- 
narily used. Many a phrase which contains a back ref- 
erence, is really an amplification, or a restatement with 
so much added meaning and force that the feeling of 
reference is not prominent, although present. To echoes 
should be added restatements and amplifications. And 
there are also instances of restatements where the back 
reference is entirely lost. Echo or not echo is a question 
of fact ; that is, the question is not, might not a word c^r 
clause refer back, but does it ? 



FURTHER STUDY OF DELIVERY 437 

Here, again, we may profitably refer to the practice of 
putting in additional phrases. This practice is espe- 
cially helpful in accentuating echoes, or contrasts, which 
may be at once echoes and new ideas. For example, 
many in speaking the words ''absolute ignorance of the 
candidates," in the seventh sentence of the Curtis selec- 
tion, will fail to realize and indicate the fact that ''can- 
didates" echoes "whoever was nominated for office," 
and that "ignorance" expresses a sharp contrast with 
"was known to his neighbors." So many ideas inter- 
vene that the relations are lost sight of. Now, if the 
student will practise Sentence 7 this way, — "But in the 
local elections of the great cities of to-day, elections that 
control taxation and expenditure (instead of having thor- 
ough knowledge of the candidates), the mass of the voters 
vote in absolute ignorance of the candidates," — ^he will 
be pretty sure to speak the final words in a way which 
reveals both the contrast and the echo. But whether 
words are inserted or not, it is essential that one speak 
with keen realization of relations, taking time to recog- 
nize them. 

Is the thought forward looking? Most of the thought 
relations need no discussion here, but there is one other 
that should be stressed because of its bearing upon a 
common fault. The fault is that of dropping the inflec- 
tion at nearly every pause, giving a sort of limping ef- 
fect. Now, speaking generally, a downward inflection 
is our instinctive way of indicating a degree of com- 
pleteness in the thought ; while an upward inflection in- 
dicates that the mind is looking forward rather than rest- 
ing upon what is at the instant being said. To illustrate, 
in speaking the sentence, "Patriotism, when it rises to 
the heroic standard, is a positive love of country ; and it 
will do all and sacrifice all for its object," the voice 



438 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

would naturally rise at any pause other than those at 
country and object. The fault referred to is evidently 
that of one who fails to keep alert to the relations of his 
ideas, and especially to the forward relations. To him 
every stop is a terminal. The remedy seems to be to 
practise much upon sentences which demand strongly the 
look ahead ; such as the following : 

"On the banks of the Idus; in the fertile valleys of the 
Euphrates; under the shadow of the mighty Pyramids and along 
the borders of the Nile ; in frigid Russia, and in sunny Greece ; 
under the soft skies of Italy and of Spain ; along the slopes where 
the grapes are gathered and the herds are pastured in beautiful 
France ; behind the dykes of Holland ; over the plains and amid 
the forests of Germany ; far north in the Scandinavian retreats, 
where muscle is trained by hardship, and storm nurtures the cour- 
age to do and dare; within the sea-girt isle, whose scepter of 
authority has been wielded by an Alfred, by a William the Con- 
queror, by an Elizabeth, and by a Victoria ; up in the Highlands 
where Bruce and Wallace led their clans, and Burns sang songs as 
enduring as Homer's, and Scott waved his wizard wand ; in Ire- 
land, where the echoes of the voice of O'Connell still linger in the 
air, persuasive, potential, and the name of Robert Emmet stirs 
like a bugle call ; here in this broad land of America ; — everywhere, 
of whatever race or clime, man feels himself to be hindered, 
cramped, thwarted, cruelly wronged, without liberty." 

*The hills. 
Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun ; the vales 
Stretching in pensive quietness between ; 
The venerable woods ; rivers that move 
In majesty ; and the complaining brooks 
That make the meadows green ; and, poured round all, 
Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste, — 
Are but the solemn decorations all 
Of the great tomb of man." 

Sometimes the fault has grown into a habit so strong 
that it will not yield to ^^ mental treatment" alone; and 
then the inflections should be drilled up arbitrarily, till 
the ear grows to demand them. 

What is said of the treatment of this fault may be applied, in 



FURTHER STUDY OF DELIVERY 439 

principle, to the treatment of any other delivery faults that persist 
very long after good mental action on the platform has been 
attained. 

There is the correlative fault of rarely letting the voice 
fall, even at the end of sentences. Such delivery, an 
approach to intoning, lacks positiveness and directness. 
It is due to taking too cursory a view, failing to center 
definitely enough. But it is sometimes an affectation. 
It is common among stump speakers. The practice of 
sustaining all inflections, though employed by some 
eminent speakers, and sometimes defended as a means 
of making the voice carry over great audiences, is, I 
believe, rarely justified and it quickly establishes a bad 
habit. It seems to be going out of vogue. 

These suggestions are practicable. At this stage stu- 
dents have said, ''How is it possible to attend to so 
many things at once, especially when one is addressing 
an audience?" The question is natural, but rests upon 
a misunderstanding. I do not mean that you should 
be saying to yourself, This is the main idea. This is an 
echo of such and such a passage. That would be but 
little better than to be saying, This word is emphatic, 
and, I must pause here. But I do mean that you are to 
be sensible of values and relations as you speak. The 
better your preparation and grasp, the easier your task. 
For a beginner to control his mind sufficiently may not 
be easy, but for this control he must work and practise. 
But after all, what is urged upon you must be practic- 
able, for it is only what we do in a wide-awake conversa- 
tion. We are striving only to reproduce and accentuate 
upon the platform the mental activities of conversation. 

Pause. The grand secret of success in carrying on all 
the complex process is pause. The rapid turning of at- 
tention from the particular idea to its relations and to 



440 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

the audience, all becomes possible when we take time. 
There is hardly a beginner who does not need this advice : 
Train yourself strictly to the habit of pausing until the 
next thought and its relations are clearly grasped hy 
your mind, before giving it to your audience. And do 
not forget that that requirement is not met by grasping 
the bare intellectual content of your words. You must 
recognize the full significance of the thought, and that 
includes the emotional content also; Remember also that 
while the speaker needs time to think what is to be said, 
the audience needs time to think of what has been said. 
' ^ Speech is silvern ; silence is golden, ' ' says the proverb, 
and silence is never more golden than in the midst of 
speech. 

Do not fear your pauses will be too long. What may 
seem to a beginner a long wait will really be very short. 
When your mind is doing its proper work in your pauses, 
they will not seem long. Do not fear that drawling will 
result from deliberate pausing. When it is not inten- 
tional, drawling is the sign of a listless, or of a too intro- 
spective state of mind, and not the expression of alert 
thinking. 

Do not confuse pause with hesitation. We pause to 
think; we hesitate because we cannot think. Nothing 
is more tiresome to an audience than a hesitating, halting 
delivery. It seems to be due chiefly to beginning a 
clause without a firm forward-looking grasp of it. 

Hesitation is especiaUy annoying when the gaps are filled with 
UTS and uhs. Grunting is no part of thinking. Heed the plea of 
Oliver Wendell Holmes : 

"And when you stick on conversations burrs, 
Don't strew your pathway with those dreadful wrs." 

Pause gives opportunity for breathing, but a speaker 
should never stop simply to breathe. That is to let 



FURTHER STUDY OF DELIVERY 441 

physical necessities tyrannize over mental processes. So 
far as consciousness is concerned, pause should be only 
an opportunity to think. Still, breathing is an impor- 
tant matter. A well controlled, sufficient supply of 
breath is necessary to a well supported tone and helps 
to steady the nerves. A speaker should cultivate the 
habit of utilizing nearly every pause to take breath. The 
opportunities are always sufficient, without interfering 
with the thought movement. 

Summarizing will be found very helpful ; first, because 
to make a good summary one must have the clearest un- 
derstanding ; and, secondly, because if you put into your 
summary just the right turn of the thought, the real 
point of view and the true emphasis, and fix this in 
your mind before you rise to speak, it will aid you 
greatly in giving to each part its due importance and in 
relating each to the whole. A summary is like a bird's- 
eye view: by omitting details it makes clearer the rela- 
tions of parts. Analysis is necessary in order to distin- 
guish relations, but after analysis must come synthesis. 
The practice of summarizing will help in gaining quali- 
ties of delivery not at all common : coherence and struc- 
tural emphasis ; which will in turn give the hearer unity 
of impression. I use the term stnictitral emphasis be- 
cause emphasis is too commonly thought of as concerned 
with the sentence only. Many speakers who deliver in- 
dividual sentences well, fail in giving due value to each 
part as related to the whole. Summarize your speech, 
then, as a whole, and summarize each paragraph. Make 
these as brief and clear-cut as you can, in order that they 
may be easily carried in mind. If a short speech can- 
not be summarized in one rather brief sentence, look 
upon that fact as a danger signal; there is probably a 
lack of unity or of clearness in your thought. 



442 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

The thought chain. Another excellent practice for 
training the thinking of a young speaker is, when once 
the details of a speech have been worked out, to go, si- 
lently at first, over the thought chain or thought move- 
ment, time after time, until he has worn such a groove 
in his mind that he can, without reference to notes and 
without mental wandering, proceed through his entire 
speech step by step, individualizing each point and seeing 
each in its proper relations. A practical aid is mentally 
to throw into the transitions such phrases as, to he sure, 
granted, for example, to take up another point, so true 
is this, as was said before, or such additions as have been 
suggested above. These accentuate the relations, and 
hence prompt more definite expression. They also aid 
the memory, for trouble in remembering is due usually 
to weak transition. 

Monotony of delivery is a fault so common that it is 
worth while to point out here that monotony is due 
fundamentally to failure in discrimination,— to drifting ; 
and that it can hardly exist where the true value and 
character of each idea is recognized and relations are 
clearly discerned; provided there be emotional as well 
as intellectual discrimination. 

How to work. The methods set forth in this chapter 
can be most advantageously practised by the beginner 
with a written speech or a selection. But they are, in 
part, quite as applicable to an extemporaneous speech; 
that is a speech prepared and outlined, but not fixed in 
phraseology. Let there be the most complete under- 
standing of each detail and of the relation of idea to 
idea, and then let there be speaking, with deliberate, com- 
plete thinking. Do not try to ' ' make a speech, ' ' but only 
to command the thought and to express it; first as to 



FURTHER STUDY OF DELIVERY 443 

one person (to an actual person if you have a patient 
friend), and then to a larger and larger number. 

Do not use these methods mechanically. Since the 
teachings of this chapter can be easily translated into 
mechanical methods, it may be best to restate the differ- 
ence between such methods and the methods intended. 
Take the matter of emphasis as typical: One working 
by the mechanical method decides that a given word is 
emphatic; say, to-night in the sentence, ^'Are you going 
down town to-night ? " He then consciously stresses that 
word. It is an act not very unlike that of the pianist in 
pressing a pedal ; the more practised he is, of course, the 
less attention the act requires. One working by our 
method, holds in mind the meaning he wishes to convey, 
and trusts the conception to prompt the right emphasis, 
as in conversation. If he finds difficulty in securing the 
right expression, he accentuates his thinking, perhaps 
saying to himself, ' ^ The question is between to-night and 
to-morrow night." He seeks right expression from con- 
centrated attention rather than by consciously applied 
stress. And if on rare occasions he finds the mechanical 
method helpful, he looks upon it rather as a last resort 
than as sound practice; for the mechanical method in- 
serts a process, unknown to normal expression, between 
the mental action and the voice. 

The elements of expression. To make expression 
clearer and stronger, accentuate mental processes which 
are the natural cause of expression. Proper pausing and 
phrasing will spring from recognition of the successive 
thought units ; and the length of pause and rate of utter- 
ance will be regulated by the relative values which the 
mind assigns to each step. From centering will spring 
emphasis, which will be due emphasis, if the relation of 



m4j public speaking 

part to part is clearly in mind. Recognition of relations 
will prompt true inflections. 

Change of pitch arises from discrimination of ideas 
and values; climax from a sense of the development of 
the thought and feeling ; and change of tone color from 
change of attitude, as from the explanatory to the argu- 
mentative mood. Where these elements of expression 
exist, monotony is impossible. It should be understood 
that this analysis is but a rough one ; the various elements 
may combine in countless ways. Expression is too com- 
plex a matter for brief analysis; if, indeed, complete 
analysis be possible. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE STUDY AND DELIVERY OF SELECTIONS 

The practice of delivering selections, usually called 
declamations, from tlie works of others, is an ancient 
method of learning to speak in public; and while too 
much attention has at times been paid to it, the practice, 
nevertheless, is valuable. I believe it best for the student 
to begin his work with original speeches, since with his 
own ideas, put in his own words and said in his own way, 
he is less likely to feel that he is making an exhibition 
gmd more likely to catch the idea that public speaking is 
real communication. Let him begin very close to actual 
conversation and then build up his delivery to meet the 
demands of the platform. 

Value of the practice. But as soon as the beginner has 
realized in a measure the nature of public delivery, there 
are certain benefits which he can secure from work on 
selections. In the first place, most beginners are accus- 
tomed to express but a limited range of ideas, and often 
they are unwilling to express these freely. Given a good 
selection, they will often speak with more confidence and 
freedom, even with more earnestness, than with their own 
matter; provided^ there is thorough assimilation. Sec- 
ondly, beginners, before they learn how to work effec- 
tively, frequently have, or think they have, extremely 
little to say; and this little they are unable to put into 
language that will ^^ speak." In short, they may fail to 
prepare speeches that permit good delivery. A good 

445 



446 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

selection furnishes a speech that will speak ; and from it 
the student may catch something of the spirit and style 
of good speeches. He receives the influence of good 
style in the best way, not from conscious imitation, but 
by coming to feel it through intimate acquaintance. 

Again, the ability to master and deliver effectively the 
words of another is in itself worth while. A speaker fre- 
quently wishes to read a passage or to quote it from mem- 
ory. At such times the audience rarely listens well ; but 
good reading should be as direct in tone and as easy to 
listen to as other delivery. We take up selections for the 
sake of their effect upon public speaking; but the im- 
provement in oral reading is a valuable ^^ by-product." 
Professor Corson has told us that oral reading is one of 
the best methods of studying literature,^ and also that it 
has great cultural value. Oral interpretation has cul- 
tural value because it is no child 's play really to master a 
good piece of literature, but a work worthy the best pow- 
ers of any student I have yet met. In these days of lec- 
tures and reports there is rather little training in close 
interpretation and little ability to reproduce faithfully 
the contents of a printed page. Many a student, intro- 
duced to the work of this chapter, has at first revolted 
and later greatly valued a training which has helped him 
in all his reading, silent as well as oral. Many educators 
value, also, the training in memorizing, holding that to- 
day there is too little memorizing as formerly there was 
too much. Finally the instructor in speaking values 
this work because it gives him the best opportunity for 
effectual drill. It is true that many of the benefits of 
work with selections can be obtained with original 
speeches alone, but my experience is that, after the course 
is well started, the best method is to alternate the two 

I Voice and Spiritual Education. 



THE STUDY OF SELECTIONS 447 

kinds of speeches, so that each kind of work may supple- 
ment the other. There are well-known evils which may 
arise in work on selections, which I shall try to guard 
against in the following suggestions. 

Character of the work proposed. I substitute the word 
selection for declamation because the work here proposed 
departs considerably from the usual practice of declama- 
tion. I do not advise a student early in his course to 
take up impersonation, — to speak as Regulus to the 
Carthaginians or as Webster in the Senate, for fear this 
practice might encourage the tendency to be unreal. I 
do not wish him to think of himself even as an interpre- 
ter. That is reading and we are working at speaking. 
I wish the student, even while interpreting, to speak, 
strictly in his own person, ideas which he has made his 
own and which he heartily believes in, to his actual audi- 
ence. 

It is true that it does a young man good to ''get out of himself" 
and speak as Clay or Phillips ; it enlarges his outlook and de- 
velops his imagination. But these benefits may be sought in oral 
reading and amateur acting ; though much acting cannot be ad- 
vised, lest the speaker become unable to keep the actor off the 
platform. The speaker who has first been an actor often has a 
hard time in gaining the power to speak as himself. On the other 
hand, some speakers benefit by throwing themselves into a part 
in a play, finding a new freedom. 

It is true that public speakers at times impersonate, or even 
become actors for a moment ; as in ''taking off" a person or in 
putting a situation vividly before their hearers. They may say, 
Let us go back to the days of the Revolution and imagine, etc. ; 
but always they maintain an understanding with their audience. 
That is something very different from the performance of the fif- 
teen-year-old boy who strides forward and begins without warn- 
ing: "Ye call me Chief, and ye do well to call him Chief who 
for twelve long years has met upon the arena every shape of 
man or beast the broad empire could furnish." Too great in- 
dulgence in that sort of thing, and in La Cigarette, Lasca, How 
the poor old blind wind-broken horse won the race, and the Death- 
bed of Benedict Arnold (Tr-r-aitor ! ) , which seem to hold the 



448 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

boards in school "rhetoricals," goes far to establish the bad habits 
which students bring to college. While a moderate use of these 
kinds of selections may be beneficial, they do not develop a con- 
ception of genuine public speaking ; and students who have been 
trained upon them are more helpless than those who never faced 
an audience, when asked to make a simple speech and carry out 
the suggestions of Chapter II. If "Curfew m-u-s-t not ring 
t-o-n-i-g-h-t," at least let us not call the agony of prevention, 
public speaking. 

After a student has had several months of training in 
which to find himself, some impersonation in his public 
speaking course may prove beneficial. But let us not 
confuse reading, acting and impersonating with public 
speaking. It is the speaker's business to speak as him- 
self ; let him learn by speaking as himself. And after all, 
he can cultivate imagination by speaking of ancient Eome 
from the standpoint of to-day, without thinking he is 
Cicero in the Forum ; and he can broaden his experience 
by treating of our Civil War as related to the present, 
and by reaching out from our little college world to the 
stirring events of the time. Even a high school student 
may well take notice that General Weyler is no longer 
butchering the innocent Cubans and that a Chinese ex- 
clusion act was passed many years ago. 

It is not only those selections which manifestly call for 
make-believe on the part of the speaker, that I would put 
under the ban for our purpose ; but also those which be- 
cause of their point of view are essentially unfitted to a 
given speaker. Such a speech is Grady's The New South, 
for a Northern student. It is distinctly the speech of a 
Southern man. Then there are many which, while still 
as true as ever, are quite out of touch with the present. 
This same New South speech is out of date even for a 
Southern student; for it belongs to the days before the 
Spanish War when sectionalism still troubled us. There 



THE STUDY OF SELECTIONS 449 

are in the books of selections many good speeches about 
^'Imperialism/' a burning issue in 1900, but now forgot- 
ten. Many speeches about peace and arbitration sound 
strange since the European war began. On the other 
hand, many selections from speeches first delivered many 
years ago are as appropriate as ever; as, for example, 
those at the end of this chapter. 

Only the limitations of the public speaker. Under 
the conditions here laid down, the student of public 
speaking will still have liberties enough. He may do 
anything which any genuine speaker may. He may dis- 
cuss any topic known among men, so long as he keeps 
his feet on the platform and remembers who he is and 
where he is. 

Finding good selections. In spite of the limitations, 
the supply of appropriate selections is inexhaustible. 
While some old favorites are ruled out, others, with or 
without modification, are as good as ever. A few allu- 
sions can be removed, a new illustration used, a passage 
peculiarly personal to the author can be cut out or quoted, 
here and there a passage rewritten ; and by a variety of 
devices, without affecting the essential qualities of the 
selection, it may be used without pretense. That elo- 
quent bit from IngersoU, At Napoleon's Tomb, has been 
built over successfully in several ways in my classes. Of 
course, if the alterations have to be very extensive, it is 
evident that the selection in question is not the one to be 
used. By means of such changes many good selections 
can be made which would otherwise hardly be thought of. 
There is a fine passage in Jerome's Three Men in a Boat, 
about lumber on the voyage of life. By composing a few 
words of explanation about the story which suggests the 
passage and changing a bit the beginning, we have an 
excellent selection. 



^50 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Some seem horrified by such tampering with printed 
words; but there is not much sacred literature that is 
likely to be used, and most students have too much awe 
of books. It is really excellent training in speech-writ- 
ing to make a good selection, cutting out here, remodeling 
there, and producing a clear, unified, strong speech. It 
is rather rarely that we find a selection of just the right 
length without some cutting. The Curtis selection is 
composed of paragraphs 6 and 7 of a long speech, with 
the excision of a bit from the end of the first of the two, 
in order to remove some allusions of no point to-day. 

Where to find good material is an ever present ques- 
tion. There are many books of declamations, and if the 
student will look upon these as containing a few good 
selections and some good raw material, and overlook a 
good deal of trash, he can make them useful. Most of 
them are compiled with other purposes than ours. They 
are filled with ^'readings" for elocutionists. And it 
must be said that many of the editors show more regard 
for sound than for sense. There are, however, several 
useful compilations. 

Among the best of these books for our purpose are Shurter's 
Afnerican Oratory of To-day, Shurter's Modern American Speaker^ 
The Hamilton Declamation Quarterly^ Frink's JSfew Century 
Speaker, and Blackstone's Best American Orations. Some excel- 
lent selections, brief and fresh, are to be found in Lewis's American 
Speech, Chapter IX. 

Many of the best selections delivered in our classes are 
found by students in their general reading. Such essay- 
ists as Stevenson, Ruskin and Carlyle, such speakers as 
Curtis, Phillips and Watterson, the current magazines 
of the better class, and many other less promising sources 
are drawn upon. The more popular works of scientists 
and scholars occasionally furnish good material. For 



THE STUDY OF SELECTIONS 451 

example, a good selection on Habit has been made from 
James's Talks to Teachers, If one has his eyes open and 
knows the characteristics of a good selection, he wiU find 
material every day. 

Lluch time is lost because the student begins his hunt 
with nothing in mind but a ''piece to speak." He turns 
over a hundred, not really getting the full impression of 
any, and finally selects one that will ''do." Look for a 
particular theme, or a selection by a particular author, or 
at least for a particular kind of selection, and when you 
find one at all promising give it careful attention. Seek 
a good selection, but do not look for perfection. A 
pretty good selection well assimilated is better than the 
best one found too late for thorough preparation. 

Qualities of a good selection. In the first place, the 
student should look for something he firmly believes in. 
Too many look for something that "sounds good," re- 
gardless of content. Phillip's Toussaint L'Ouverture is 
remarkably good speaking English ; but no one, unless he 
actually believes them, can afford to deliver its aston- 
ishing claims. That would develop insincerity. The 
speaker should not be contented with not disbelieving in 
his selection; he should feel the same responsibility for 
its sentiments as if he had written it. Let him find a 
selection which represents his views at least in the main ; 
and then modifj^ it till it fits exactly. 

Given a selection you believe in, the next question is : 
Is it interesting? Does it interest you? Will it interest 
your audience? Next, will it '^speaWf Has it a style 
of such clearness, concreteness, movement and climax 
that it is adapted to public delivery? Many a splendid 
piece of literature is not adapted to delivery. Its sen- 
tences may be too involved ; its thought too subtle or too 
abstract, or it may leave too much to be inferred, Deliv- 



452 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

ery may do much to supply the lacks, and it may be good 
practice at times to speak, for example, a selection cut 
from Emerson 's essay on Self -Reliance, and do your best 
to make it clear and impressive. You do not necessarily 
wish a selection easy for your hearers ; make as great a 
demand upon their attention as you can successfully. 
But it is essential that you feel they are following you. 

Avoid mere eloquent bits, as perorations, which may 
have been great in their context, but which detached are 
mere generalities. These often come after long discus- 
sions which made them highly significant to the original 
audiences; but alone they are almost meaningless. Be 
sure your selection in itself says some definite thing, in 
such terms that it will strike home. There are many 
examples to prove that a selection can, in the space of five 
hundred words, put an idea clearly, concretely and spe- 
cifically. 

See that your selection has coherence and unity. 
There are many in the declamation books which lack these 
qualities. There is one from a speech by Grady, entitled 
The Danger of Centralized Government, which has one 
paragraph on this theme and the rest on centralized 
wealth, without suggestion of connection between the two 
topics. If we are to treat selections as merely so many 
eloquent words, their use is certainly a wretched practice. 

You should seek a selection which is better than you 
can yourself produce ; one which you would wish to have 
written. It should contain a clear, strong thought, the 
expression of which will draw out your best powers. The 
selection should be couched in good language also. You 
cannot afford to become so intimate as you should with 
your selection, to make it a part of your own thought- 
stuff, unless it is thoroughly worthy, though it need not 
be a masterpiece. And your study will give it a most 



THE STUDY OF SELECTIONS 453 

severe test. In the process of analysis, assimilation and 
drill, every muddy thought, every weak joint, every ex- 
traneous idea, every inconsistency, will be detected. 

After a student has really found himself as a speaker, 
and in the process has found out his faults, it is often 
advisable to choose, not the selection which he can speak 
best, but one which will best serve to counteract some 
fault. Sometimes a very conversational selection will 
help a speaker who tends to be too oratorical. Sometimes 
one whose delivery is jerky is improved by a selection of 
unusual rhythm and smoothness. Again, a speaker of 
too great reserve is brought out by a selection which con- 
tains a dramatic story. 

Methods of preparation. If the study and delivery of 
selections is to be profitable, the work must be thoroughly 
done by a sound method. There are few worse practices 
than the mere memorizing of words to ^' spout" with little 
regard for meaning. It is about as bad as the production 
of undigested stuff in ^^ cribbed," miscalled '^original," 
speeches. 

The average person, reading over such a selection as 
Who Is to Blame, thinks he understands. Perhaps he 
does well enough for ordinary purposes; but mastery 
sufficient for adequate expression is quite another matter. 
And very often he confesses after longer study that his 
first understanding was quite shallow and erroneous. 

Nor is it enough to have a bare understanding, to know 
the meaning of every word, every sentence and every 
paragraph. There should be the most thorough study 
and analysis ; but yet more important is the assimilation 
which comes from relating the contents of the selection to 
one's own thought and experience. One may deliver a 
selection very correctly, and yet it may seem very empty, 
unless he assimilates its thought and emotion. The stu- 



454J PUBLIC SPEAKING 

dent should draw out from his own experience, direct and 
indirect, many associations, illustrations, comparisons, 
and make many applications of the suggestions of the 
selections to familiar situations. By these means dead 
words may become living thought. That imagination 
will have a great part in this process will be readily un- 
derstood by those familiar with Chapters III and IV. 

The foundations for a sound method have been laid in 
those chapters and in Chapter XIII. I shall now gather 
up the suggestions applicable to the study of selections 
into a scheme of study. It should be noted, however, 
that many matters which should come up for considera- 
tion in the study of a given selection, cannot be indicated 
in a general scheme, and also that each student will be 
able, once started, to work out other methods for himself. 

The use of such a scheme is a great advance over the 
usual haphazard study, for it makes study systematic and 
fruitful and it keeps attention upon a selection long 
enough to secure some degree of assimilation. 

There is no order necessarily best. Many processes 
will be carried on at once. The thought back of the ar- 
rangement below is that once having gained a general 
idea of the whole, we should then master the smaller de- 
tails, which are necessary to fully understanding the 
larger parts. And further, the more analytical work is 
put first, so that the more constructive work of the latter 
part may remove a too analytical mood before the worker 
reaches the stage of delivery. 

Scheme for the Study of a Selection ^ 

When this scheme is used as the hasis for a written re- 
port, make references to your selection clear by giving 
line numbers, or otherwise. 

1 This scheme is a free adaptation of Professor D. C. Lee's leaf- 



THE STUDY OF SELECTIONS 455 

1. Read the selection silently until the main outlines 
are distinct in your mind. Try to concentrate your at- 
tention so that you can read through with no foreign 
ideas intruding. Do not read aloud at all, and do not 
speak the selection until you have mastered it. 

2. Make sure you know the meaning of each word as 
here used, the significance of each name and allusion. 
(Do not make guesses ; look up all words you are not sure 
of and include your findings in your report.) 

3. Indicate the parts which are echoes, restatements 
or amplifications of preceding parts, and what they echo, 
etc. 

4. What contrasts do you find. 

5. Indicate the new idea or ideas in each sentence. 

6. What is the chief idea in each sentence. 

7. Give the last word of each phrase. 

8. Note definitely the connection of sentence with 
sentence. Supply ellipses. Where can you make the 
meaning or the attitude clearer by adding such expres- 
sions as even, for example, in spite of, granting, etc J 

9. Be sure you realize the feeling of each part ; that is, 
whether it is explanatory, concessive, ironical, exclama- 
tory, triumphant, etc. 

10. Where are the principal climaxes ? 

11. Summarize each paragraph in one crisp sentence. 
Use your own words. If the paragraphing does not seem 
right to you, change. 

12. State clearly the transitions in thought from para- 
graph to paragraph. 

13. Summarize the whole selection in a single sentence 
as brief and simple as possible. 

14. Make an outline of the selection, being careful to 

let, How to Study a Beclamation, wliich was based upon Kirby's 
Puhlic Speaking and Reading, 



4^56 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

make the relations of principal and subordinate ideas 
clear. 

15. "Work out the thought movement, or thought 
chain, in your own words. The statement should make 
clear the relation of paragraph to paragraph, sentence to 
sentence, contain each link of the thought and preserve 
the feeling and attitude of each part. 

16. By means of what associations, illustrations, ex- 
amples, comparisons, drawn from experience, observation 
and study, do you add meaning, reality and interest to 
this selection ? 

17. Exercise the imagination upon the selection. 
Describe the principal images which aid you in making 
the thought more intense, life-like and objective. 

18. What is the dominant feeling, or the mood, of the 
selection ? 

19. Take time to assimilate the selection. Dwell upon 
it, not listlessly, but with vigorous attention, until the 
thoughts grow clear and definite, the images vivid, and 
the feeling genuine. 

20. Memorizing. Do not memorize the words before 
the content has been mastered. To memorize first is to 
put words before thought. When the above work has 
been carefully done, then go silently through the thought 
movement ; then, still silently, clothe these thoughts with 
the author's words. Then say the words aloud. Hold 
the thought clearly and vigorously in mind and try to 
express. Let the thought prompt the delivery. Do not 
at this stage think of making a speech; speak as to a 
single person. Gradually build up and strengthen to fit 
the needs of the platform, retaining all the time the es- 
sential conversational conditions: 1. Thinking at the 
moment of delivery; 2. The sense of direct communica- 
tion. 



THE STUDY OF SELECTIONS 457 

21. Practice much, — always with wide-awake mind. 
Force your delivery to expressiveness by repeated trials, 
accentuating your consciousness of the meaning and en- 
tering more and more into the spirit of the selection. 

If you do not find the process of memorizing easy, it 
will probably be because the work of interpretation and 
assimilation has not been sufficiently well done. Profes- 
sor James has said that '^The art of remembering is the 
art of thinking; and when we wish to fix a new thing [in 
memory], our conscious effort should not be so much to 
impress and retain it as to connect it with something else 
already there. The connecting is the thinking.'^ Of 
course, in fixing the precise words, a definite effort to im- 
press and retain may be necessary ; although surprisingly 
little effort is needed for this when assimilation is thor- 
ough. 

If you have trouble in making your delivery expressive, 
the cause, again, is probably lack of assimilation. Go 
through the plan of study more carefully and the result 
will be better. Make the thought your thought, the 
words your words. 

Explanations and Illustrations. The numerals below correspond 
to those of the scheme of study. The illustrations are from Who's 
to Blame? 

2. Unfortunately there is need of emphasis upon the truth that 
no intelligent man should permit himself to speak words he does 
not understand. Even common expressions, such as puhlic duty, 
will bear consideration. What does poolroom mean, as used in 
the Curtis selection? Infidels? Intrigue? Books of literary and 
historical references, biographical dictionaries and cyclopedias, such 
as are found in every library, will quickly clear up many obscure 
matters (See Chapter XI). A good dictionary should, of course, be 
found in every student's room. It should be explained here that 
Jonathan Wild stands for William M. Tweed ; but both Wild and 
Tweed should be looked up. What kind of men were Turpin and 
Diddler, and what do their names here signify? 

3. This question can be answered conveniently in this manner: 



458 PUBLIC SPEAKINGS 



In line 2, 


vote echoes 


voting, line 2. 


3, 


political duty " 


public duty, 1. 1. 


6, 


very heart " 


essentially, 1. 3. 


Sentence 6, 


amplifies 


sentence 5. 



All the echoes, etc., which have any appreciable effect upon de- 
livery, should be put down, however formidable the array. 

5 and 6. These may be conveniently answered in parallel col- 
umns. Use any way which reveals your understanding without 
waste of words. Use now the words of the text, and now trans- 
late. 

7. The last word is given simply as an economical way of an- 
swering. 

8. The expressions supplied are not to be spoken, unless they 
seem to improve the composition. The student will recall that this 
and most of the other questions are explained in Chapters III and 
XIII. In the Curtis selection imagine the questions and other re- 
sponses a man who thinks himself a good citizen might make, as, 
for example, after the third sentence, *'What should I do?" In 
speaking of the Pharisee, one gets the flavor of the allusion by 
thinking, **You remember the one in the parable of the two men 
who went up into the temple to pray." (See Luke 18:10.) I do 
not mean that this necessarily takes the form of words as one 
speaks, but that something like it must lie in the ^'fringe of con- 
sciousness,'^ if one is to catch the right turn ; for, notice, this is a 
particular Pharisee. At the end of Sentence 9 may be thought, 
"two grand rascals," or, "no choice at all." The difficulties of 10 
are lessened by thinkkig, "what an absurdity !" and "Think of it, 
Diddler a reformer!" Sentence 14 is like this to me: "To say 
that in this country the rogues must rule [as you have said] 
is to defy history [as I have just shown you] and [what is vastly 
more important to a genuine American] to despair of the Republic. 
[Don't you see what your defense amounts to?]" By holding in 
mind these unexpressed ideas one gets their effect in his voice. 

11. Be sure you catch the essential rather than some incidental 
idea, and give the true point of view. Make your summaries crisp 
enough to carry easily in mind. Do not put here what belongs in 
Question 15. 

12. This question is a severe test of understanding. Do not 
catch at some trivial link. In the Curtis selection, what question 
is raised in the first paragraph that is answered in the second? 

13. In this selection the summary should turn on the question of 
Whose fault, 

15. One preparing a selection should go over the thought, ex- 
pressing it very fully, several times. He should use his own words 



THE STUDY OF SELECTIONS 459 

to make sure he is getting at the content, not merely the author's 
words. 

IG and 17. We may illustrate further here what has been ex- 
plained in Chapters III and IV. The work of 16 and 17 is of the 
highest importance to assimilation. After gaining an understand- 
ing of the meaning of the words before you, you may proceed by a 
process not altogether unlike that you would have gone through 
had you written the selection yourself. The Curtis selection treats 
of political duty and political corruption. Our author refers to 
concrete instances and these form associations for the ideas ; but 
you are not limited to these. You have gone through political 
campaigns. First-hand knowledge is best. Then you have heard 
and read of politics local, state and national ; you have knowl- 
edge of conditions in various cities, New York, Philadelphia, San 
Francisco ; certain leaders and bosses are familiar from pictures and 
cartoons ; you know something of various reform movements, di- 
rect nominations, short ballots, commission form of city govern- 
ment, municipal leagues, and the like. All this you bring out of 
memory, or as much as has any bearing on your selection, and by 
means of it you begin to assimilate your speech. 

Very likely your knowledge is limited and vague. You can con- 
tinue your work by reading and by conversation with those who 
have more information and experience. As your selection refers to 
the Tweed regime in New York City, you will look that up especially. 
Some of the possible sources are the report prepared by Samuel 
J. Tilden, Myers's History of Tammany Hall, the second volume of 
Bryce's American Commonwealth, the files of the papers of the pe- 
riod (about 1872), say Harper's Weekly, then edited by George 
William Curtis and illustrated with Nast's famous Tammany car- 
toons. Accounts of later struggles in New York and in other 
ring-ruled cities will give a more present-day aspect to the subject. 

Make your work specific. It is of little use to go over things in 
the general way I have above. If the idea of direct nominations 
is to be of service, you must run it out far enough to see clearly 
how it affects the problem of "shaping the alternative." A general 
notion that there has been corruption in San Francisco will be of 
but the slightest value. 

The first sentence is very simple ; but what does public duty mean 
to you? Run this abstraction out into concrete details. To do so 
here would take undue space; but I mean that this should be done 
very specifically, taking account of the responsibilities that rest 
upon a citizen of a republic, with special reference to the duty of 
selecting officials. You can see citizens going about their duties, 
rallying voters to the primaries, interviewing, writing letters, mak- 
ing speeches, forming clubs, or working in any other tangible ways. 



460 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

You see also certain sleek self-satisfied citizens who do nothing but 
vote on election day. Plainly that is not enough ; not even if they 
take great pains to go and vote, as is the case with this man who 
goes all the way from New York to Chicago, leaving important 
business, just to vote. You may seem to see these men as real 
persons, men who know, or as typical citizens. Let them be tall 
or short, fat or lean, dressed so and so ; that is, vividly con- 
ceived persons. You cannot see a smug look unless you see it on 
a face. Make your citizen look like a real man. 

You may seem to talk with them. To make the point clearer, 
you draw an analogy from the religious field, in which the evils of 
formalism are well recognized ; and you choose a familiar figure, 
the Pharisee of Luke xviii. Look this gentleman up, but do not 
catch the wrong suggestion. For us it is formalism, not hypocrisy. 
(In the last sentence of the selection we are more strongly im- 
pressed with the self-righteousness of the Pharisee.) "But why 
do you call us political Pharisees?" demand the indignant citizens. 
"Don't you see — the 'doubtful alternative'?" you explain. "You 
may have only a choice betv/een two rascals, between John Doe, 
the paid tool of the public service corporations, and Richard Roe, 
the coarse grafter.'^ "But what should we do?" ask the citizens. 
"Help choose the candidates, go to the primaries ; nay, go to work 
before the primaries, each doing something to secure at least one 
good candidate." And so on. This is only a hint of what may be 
done. It is not an attempt to say just what should come into your 
mind. Each mind will differ from all others. 

The scene about the polls is peculiarly open to the work of 
imagination. It is a little drama ; and most students fail to "get 
into" this part, because they do not go beyond matter-of-fact. 
Let us stand and watch near the polling place in a corrupt dis- 
trict. Banners bearing the party slogans are stretched across the 
street. Dodgers are thrust into our hands and we read, "Vote for 
Diddler and Reform !" A worker eagerly whispers to us, "Vote 
for good old honest Dick ! He is none of your sniveling reform- 
ers ; he won't interfere with the boys." Up an alley we see a 
worker bargaining for votes at two dollars apiece ; while down the 
street comes a dive-keeper with a drove of drunken loafers he has 
kept in his back room all night, — all out to vote for Diddler and 
reform. Our friend, the honest and respectable citizen, steps from 
his carriage on his way down town, intent on doing his full politi- 
cal duty. He seems a bit shocked at the sights and the men who 
greet him, — "plug uglies" with flashy clothes, tall hats, glass dia- 
monds and long black cigars. Still, it is what he is used to ; he has 
always left the "dirty work" of politics to "the boys." As he takes 
his ballot with a somewhat gingerly air, we hurl at him, "Don't 
forget your indifference is to blame for this shocking choice !" And 



THE STUDY OF SELECTIONS 461 

we quote mockingly, "Vote for 'Turpin and honesty !' or, if you pre- 
fer, try 'Diddler and reform I' " 

The rest of the speech may be worked out as a trial, with an in- 
dictment, a plea, analysis of the evidence and final condemnation. 
Of course, this must not be pressed too far ; but it helps to bring 
out the thought movement. The last sentence is a good example of 
how imagination may help. Students usually rattle this off with- 
out discrimination of parts, and either indifferently or with mere 
loudness. Let the student put himself in the place of one who is 
out working to defeat the renomination of a grafting alderman. 
He goes to a friend to ask his help. But he finds his friend sit- 
ting before a cheerful fire reading, blissfully unconscious that there 
is anything to be done. Even when told, he is indifferent. ''Why 
so excited?" he asks. "Sit down and have a chat." Our worker 
urges and his friend is driven to excuses. He wraps his snobbish 
respectability about him and says it is no work for a gentleman. 
Pressed further, he begins to believe in his own excuses and, de- 
generating still further in his citizenship, he says, "I half believe 
this government is only the rule of a mob anyhow." Then quite 
convinced, he adds, "Between you and me, I hope we shall soon be 
rid of it; what we want is a vigorous despot." A man of earnest 
purpose who found himself confronted by such a citizen would 
surely wish to kick him ; and that feeling is what the speaker 
needs. 

Use these, and any other means, of thinking and feeling 
yourself into the selection ; and you will find that what 
you may have thought you fully understood at first read- 
ing, will become vastly more significant. It may come to 
mean as much to you as to its author; indeed, it may 
mean more to you. He has furnished you with a sugges- 
tive form of words ; what their content shall be depends 
largely upon you, though you should not, of course, dis- 
tort them from their normal meaning. 

I append here three selections which have been very 
severely tested in the class room. They present a consid- 
erable variety of style and of problems. A student who 
masters the delivery of these should be equal to anything. 
He will certainly find that he has grown. But remember 
that the mere declaiming of them without assimilation 
will do harm. 



462 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

WHO IS TO BLAME? 

From The Public Duty of Educated Men, 

By George William Curtis 

1 I. 1. Public duty in this country is not discharged, 

2 as is often supposed, by voting. 2. A man may vote 

3 regularly, and still fail essentially of his political 

4 duty, as the Pharisee who gave tithes of all that he 

5 possessed, and fasted three times in the week, yet 

6 lacked the very heart of religion. 3. When an Amer- 

7 ican citizen is content with voting merely, he con- 

8 sents to accept what is often a doubtful alternative. 

9 4. His first duty is to help shape the alternative. 5. 

10 This, which was formerly less necessary, is now in- 

11 dispensable. 6. In a rural community such as this 

12 country was a hundred years ago, whoever was nomi- 

13 nated for office was known to his neighbors, and the 

14 consciousness of that knowledge was a conservative 

15 influence in determining nominations. 7. But in the 

16 local elections of the great cities of to-day, elections 

17 that control taxation and expenditure, the mass of 

18 the voters vote in absolute ignorance of the candi- 

19 dates. 8. The citizen who supposes that he does all 

20 his duty when he votes, places a, premium upon po- 

21 litical knavery. 9. Thieves welcome him to the polls 

22 and offer him a choice, which he has done nothing 

23 to prevent, between Jerem}^ Diddler and Dick Tur- 

24 pin. 10. The party cries, for which he is responsi- 

25 ble, are ''Turpin and Honesty!" ''Diddler and Ee- 

26 form!" 11. And within a few years, as a result of 

27 this indifference to the details of public duty, the most 

28 powerful politician in the Empire State of the Union 

29 was Jonathan Wild the Great, the captain of a band 

30 of plunderers. 12. I know it is said that the knaves 

31 have taken the honest men in a net, and have con- 

32 trived machinery which will inevitably grind only 

33 the grist of rascals. 13. The answer is, that when 

34 honest men did once what they ought to do always, 
85 the thieves were netted and their machine was 
36 broken. 14. To say that in this country the rogues 



THE STUDY OF SELECTIONS 463 

37 must rule, is to defy history and to despair of the 

38 republic. 

39 II. 15. If ignorance and corruption and intrigue 

40 control the primary meeting, and manage the conven- 

41 tion, and dictate the nomination, the fault is in the 

42 honest and intelligent workshop and office, in the 

43 library and the parlor, in the church and the school. 

44 16. When they are as constant and faithful to their 

45 political rights as the slums and the grogshops, the 

46 pool-rooms and the kennels; when the educated, in- 

47 dustrious, temperate, thrifty citizens are as zealous 

48 and prompt and unfailing in political activity as the 

49 ignorant and venal and mischievous, or when it is 

50 plain that they cannot be roused to their duty, then, 

51 but not until then^if ignorance and corruption al- 

52 ways carry the day — there can be no honest question 

53 that the republic has failed. 17. But let us not be 

54 deceived. 18. While good men sit at home, not know- 

55 ing that there is anything to be done, nor caring to 

56 know; cultivating a feeling that politics are tiresome 

57 and dirty, and politicians, vulgar bullies and bravoes; 

58 half persuaded that a republic is the contemptible 

59 rule of a mob, and secretly longing for a splendid and 

60 vigorous despotism — then remember, it is not a gov- 

61 ernment mastered by ignorance, it is a government 

62 betrayed by intelligence ; it is not the victory of the 

63 slums, it is the surrender of the schools; it is not 

64 that bad men are brave, but that good men are infi- 

65 dels and cowards. 



A LIBERAL EDUCATION ^ 

From Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Revieics, by Thomas Huxley 

1 I. 1. Suppose it were perfectly certain that the life 

2 and fortune of every one of us would, one day or 

3 other, depend upon his winning or losing a game at 

4 chess. 2. Don't you think we should all consider it 

1 This selection as a whole is not unified. It is best used as 
two selections. The first three paragraphs form one unit and 
the remaining two another. 



464 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

5 a primary duty to learn at least the names and the 

6 moves of the pieces; to have a notion of a gambit, 

7 and a keen eye for all the means of giving and get- 

8 ting out of a check? 3. Do you not think we should 

9 look with a disapprobation amounting to scorn, upon 
10 a father who allowed his son, or the state which al- 
ii lowed its members, to grow up without knowing a 

12 pawn from a knight? 

13 II. 4. Yet it is a very plain and elementary truth, 

14 that the life, that the fortune, and the happiness of 

15 every one of us, and, more or less, of those who are 

16 connected with us, do depend upon our knowing 

17 something of the rules of a game infinitely more diffi- 

18 cult and complicated than chess. 5. It is a game 

19 which has been played for untold ages, every man 

20 and woman of us being one of the two players in a 

21 game of his or her own. 6. The chess-board is the 

22 world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, 

23 the rules of the game are what we call the laws of 

24 Nature. 7. The player on the other side is hidden 

25 from us. 8. We know that his play is always fair, 

26 just and patient. 9. But also we know, to our cost, 

27 that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the small- 

28 est allowance for ignorance. 10. To the man who 

29 plays well, the highest stakes are paid, with that sort 

30 of overflowing generosity with which the strong shows 

31 delight in strength. 11. And one who plays ill is 

32 checkmated — without haste, but without remorse. 

33 III. 12. Well, what I mean by Education is learn- 

34 ing the rules of this mighty game. 13. In other 

35 words, education is the instruction of the intellect in 

36 the laws of Nature, under which name I include not 

37 merely things and their forces, but men and their 

38 ways ; and the fashioning of the affections and of the 

39 will into an earnest and loving desire to move in har- 

40 mony with those laws. 

41 IV. 14. That man, I think, has a liberal educa- 

42 tion, who has been so trained in his youth that his 

43 body is the ready servant of his will, and does with 

44 ease and pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, 



THE STUDY OF SELECTIONS 465 

45 it is capable of ; whose intellect is a clear, cold, logic 

46 engine, with all its parts of equal strength, and in 

47 smooth working order ; ready, like a steam engine, to 

48 be turned to any kind of w^ork, and spin the gos- 

49 samers as well as forge the anchors of the mind; 

50 whose mind is stored with a knowledge of the great 

51 and fundamental truths of Nature and of the laws of 

52 her operations; one who, no stunted ascetic, is full 

53 of life and fire, but w^hose passions are trained to 

54 come to heel by a vigorous will, the servant of a ten- 

55 der conscience; who has learned to love all beauty, 

56 whether of nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and 

57 to respect others as himself. 

58 V. 15. Such an one, and no other, I conceive, has 

59 had a liberal education ; for he is, as completely as a 

60 man can be, in harmony with Nature. 16. He will 

61 make the best of her, and she of him. 17. They will 

62 get on together rarely; she as his ever beneficent 

63 mother ; he as her mouthpiece, her conscious self, her 

64 minister and interpreter. 

AWAIT THE ISSUE 

Adapted from Carlyle's Past and Present 

1 I. In this God's-world, with its wild, whirling ed- 

2 dies and mad, foam oceans, where men and nations 

3 perish as if without law, and judgment for an unjust 

4 thing is sternly delayed, dost thou think that there is 

5 therefore no justice ? It is what the fool hath said in 

6 his heart. It is what the wise, in all times, were wise 

7 because they denied and knew forever not to be. I 

8 tell thee there is nothing else but justice. One strong 

9 thing I find here below : the just thing, the true thing. 

10 II. My friend, if thou hadst all the artillery of 

11 Woolwich trundling at thy back in support of an un- 

12 just thing, and infinite bonfires visibly waiting ahead 

13 of thee to blaze centuries long for the victory on be- 

14 half of it, I would advise thee to call halt, to fling 

15 down thy baton and say, ''In heaven's name, no !" 

16 III. Thy ''success"? Poor devil, what will thy 



466 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

17 success amount to ? If the thing is unjust, thou hast 

18 not succeeded; no, not though bonfires blazed from 

19 north to south, and bells rang, and editors wrote lead- 

20 ing articles, and the just things lay trampled out of 

21 sight, — to all mortal eyes an abolished and annihilated 

22 thing. . . . 

23 IV. For it is the right and noble alone that will 

24 have victory in this struggle; the rest is wholly an 

25 obstruction, a postponement, a fearful imperilment, 

26 of the victory. Towards an eternal center of right 

27 and nobleness, and of that only, is all confusion tend- 

28 ing. We already know whither it is all tending ; what 

29 will have victory, what will have none ! The heaviest 

30 will reach the center. The heaviest has its deflec- 

31 tions ; its obstructions ; nay, at times its resiliences, its 

32 reboundings, whereupon some blockhead shall be 

33 heard jubilating, '^See, your heaviest ascends!" but 

34 at all moments it is moving centerward, fast as is 

35 convenient for it; sinking, sinking; and, by laws 

36 older than the world, old as the Maker's first plan of 

37 the world, it has to arrive there. 

38 V. Await the issue. In all battles, if you await 

39 the issue, each fighter has prospered according to his 

40 right. His right and his might, at the close of the 

41 account, were one and the same. He has fought with 

42 all his might, and in exact proportion to all his right he 

43 has prevailed. His very death is no victory over him. 

44 He dies indeed ; but his work lives, very truly lives. 

45 VI. An heroic Wallace, quartered on the scaf- 

46 fold, cannot hinder that his Scotland become, one 

47 day, a part of England; but he does hinder that it 

48 become, on tyrannous terms, a part of it ; commands 

49 still, as with a god's voice, from his old Valhalla and 

50 Temple of the brave, that there be a just, real union 

51 as of brother and brother, not a false and merely 

52 semblant one as of slave and master. If the union 

53 with England be in fact one of Scotland's chief 

54 blessings, we thank Wallace withal that it was not 

55 the chief curse. . . . 

56 VII. Fight on, thou brave, true heart ; and falter 



THE STUDY OF SELECTIONS 467 

57 not, through dark fortune and through bright. The 

58 cause thou lightest for, so far as it is true, no further, 

59 yet precisely so far, is very sure of victory. The 

60 falsehood alone of it will be conquered, will be abol- 

61 ished, as it ought to be ; but the truth of it is part 

62 of Nature's own laws, cooperates with the world's 

63 eternal tendencies, and cannot be conquered. 



CHAPTER XV 

GESTURE 

The term gesture is broad enough to cover every action 
and posture expressive of thought or feeling. It suggests 
action and we usually think of gesture as movement, 
especially of hands and arms ; but good usage will justify 
the above statement. We cannot, furthermore, limit our- 
selves to actions which are ^ intended to express an idea 
or a passion"; for we are concerned with all expression, 
whether intentional or not. 

But taking gesture in the more usual sense of action 
intended to express ideas and feelings, Why should the 
speaker gesture ? 

Gesture is an important means of expression. A 
speaker who is full of his subject and has a great deal to 
express will feel the need of every means of expressing 
himself. Any man who eagerly desires to communicate 
his ideas and feelings, knows the inadequacy of language. 
This is not to imply that gesture is the resource only of 
those exceedingly serious over a great message. Any one 
eager to convey an impression, though it be of the light- 
est nature, feels the need of action. 

We find, too, that although its range is more limited, 
gesture is often a quicker, plainer and stronger means of 
expression than spoken words, for its appeal is to the 
eye. A motion toward the door, a shrug, a lifted eye- 
brow, — what words can equal these gestures? Gesture, 
within its limitations, is an unmistakable language, and 

468 



GESTURE 469 

is understood by men of all races and tongues. Even 
a dog understands some gestures. Gesture is our most 
instinctive language; at least it goes back to the begin- 
ning of all communication when the race, still lacking 
articulate speech, could express only through the tones of 
inarticulate sounds and through movements. And be- 
cause it is so deeply imbedded in our primitive reactions, 
all men express themselves by gesture and all men under- 
stand gesture. 

Gesture is particularly adapted to the expression of 
feeling. The degree of the speaker's earnestness, his at- 
titude toward the idea presented, whether he accounts 
it trivial or important, acceptable or objectionable, pleas- 
ing or disgusting, uplifting or debasing, whether he is 
eager or conservative, mocking or serious, — all these and 
many other attitudes and feelings the speaker reveals by 
posture, action and facial expression. Gesture is used 
also, but less frequently, to express cold fact and ideas 
apart from feeling; as, that the statue was so high, or 
that there are two opposing principles. Its use for this 
purpose is obviously limited. In narration and descrip- 
tion action is much used ; but usually in these there is a 
strong emotional coloring. Words have developed along 
with ideas, and generally speaking, are the clearest ex- 
pression of them. Emotions are more primitive than 
ideas. Primitive man had little to express besides his 
likes and his dislikes, his joy and his sorrow, his fear and 
his triumph. 

Darwin and others have traced the origin of our familiar ges- 
tures, in many instances, to "serviceable associated habits" de- 
veloped by our early ancestors. Thus, i "the snarl or sneer, the 
one-sided uncovering of the upper teeth, is accounted for by Darwin 
as a survival from the time when our ancestors had large canines, 
and unfleshed them (as dogs do now) for attack." Very likely 

1 James, Briefer Course, p. 388. 



470 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

some of the attempted explanations of particular actions are far- 
fetched ; but the general thought is suggestive. We can readily 
understand how among the natural indications of aggressive de- 
termination are a jaw set and protruding and clenched fists. 

1 " Another principle . . . may be called the principle of re- 
acting similarly to analogous-feeling stimuli. ... As soon as 
any experience arises which has an affinity with the feeling of 
sweet, or sour, or bitter, the same movements are executed which 
would result from the taste in point. . . . Disgust is an incip- 
ient . . . retching, limiting its expressions often to the grimace 
of lips and nose ; satisfaction goes with a sucking smile, or 
tasting motion of the lips. The ordinary gesture of negation/ — 
among us, moving the head about its axis from side to side — 
is a reaction originally used by babies to keep disagreeables from 
getting into their mouth, and may be observed in perfection in any 
nursery." 

2 ^'Primitive language was largely a gesture-language. Since 
the spoken words gave only a partial account of the event de- 
scribed, they were eked out by movements of hand or feature. 
And foremost among these movements were the movements that 
correspond to the metaphor. The successful hunter actually 
licked his lips, and seemed to suck a sweet morsel ; the unsuccess- 
ful drew his lips sideways, as if he were trying to taste as little 
as possible of his sour draught. 

"Now we begin to see where the argument is taking us. Cer- 
tain processes in the emotion . . . suggest a metaphor, by simul- 
taneous association ; and the metaphor brings a movement with 
it. As language develops, the metaphor is lost : it is no longer 
necessary. But the movement persists. When the emotion comes, 
the movement comes with it. The movement survives, partly be- 
cause of its intrinsic fitness to communicate to others a knowl- 
edge of our emotion, and partly because gesture cannot change as 
language can." 

We have many gestures that exhibit the metaphorical 
character ; as, the wide-flung hands expressive of welcome 
or liberality, the tossing motion expressive of carelessness, 
the palm thrust forward expressive of repelling, the up- 
lifted hand expressive, in various positions, of nobility, 
aspiration, or reverence. 

I have gone so far in considering the origin of ex- 
pressive action, not only to show how broad and universal 
is its appeal, but also to prepare the way for the second 
and chief reason for gesturing ; and that is — 

The speaker needs gesture to free him from restraint 

1 James, Psychology: Briefer Course, p. 389. 

2 Titchener, Primer of Psychology, p. 148. 



GESTURE 471 

and bring him into a normal condition on the platform. 
More and more this reason impresses me as a teacher. 
Students never find themselves as speakers, never escape 
the bonds of restraint, never become really direct and 
communicative, until they gesture. It is unnatural not 
to gesture in any wide-awake discourse. Any real 
speaker would be in distress if compelled to restrain 
gesture. One might as well run a race with one's hands 
tied. We begin to use gesture in earliest infancy. Chil- 
dren gesture a great deal. That they gesture less as 
they grow older is due in part to constant checking. 
Their gestures knock over bric-a-brac, and ^' Don't!" is 
heard from morn till night. Habits of restraint are 
formed. We learn that it is not best to express every 
thought and feeling that comes. But we never cease to 
use gesture; not even the more noticeable motions of 
hands and arms. It is amusing to be told by students 
that they do not gesture in conversation. Contradict 
them and force them to strong assertion, and they never 
fail to make a vigorous movement to enforce their denial. 
One student repeated this gesture three times in succes- 
sion, though consciously trying to restrain the action 
and laughing at himself for his absurdity. Every man 
makes innumerable movements, and these increase as he 
warms up in his talk. And this brings us to a third 
reason for gesturing. 

We are bound to gesture whether we will or no ; if not 
well, then ill. If we are alive to our work, the im- 
pulse to action will be present and will show itself some- 
how; in uneasy twitchings, starts of the hands, restless 
shifting of feet and position, or fumbling with clothing. 
Repression will show itself in rigidity. All this may 
itself be called gesture ; for all appeals to the eyes of the 
audience, and seems to cry aloud, ''See how repressed, 



472 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

how nervous, how awkward I am!" It is much better 
to give rein to the natural impulses and use the hands 
to emphasize thought than to examine the edge of one's 
coat or to hitch up one 's trousers. True, the hands may 
be stuck in one's pockets or held in leash at the back; 
but these are not attitudes always becoming to young 
speakers, to say nothing of the loss of expression and 
freedom. Besides, hands and arms are only one part 
of gesture. 

To suppress gesture is to suppress feeling. We have 
been assuming a speaker alive to his task, really trying 
to express. But it is doubtful if a speaker can remain 
in that condition long, if he repress gesture. Gripping 
one's chair is a familiar device for keeping cool. As 
we learned in Chapter V, repression of feeling is often 
the death of feeling; gestural expression will heighten 
or even produce the appropriate feeling. The following 
is by a writer not committed to the James-Lange theory 
of emotion : 

^'^When Deerslayer caught the tomahawk hurled at 
him, ^his hand was raised above and behind his own 
head, and in the very attitude necessary to return the 
attack. It is not certain' — notice the sentence — 
* whether the circumstance of finding himself in this 
menacing posture and armed tempted the young man 
to retaliate, or whether sudden resentment overcame his 
forbearance and prudence. ' Cooper has realized the un- 
doubted fact that, given the attitude, the emotion might 
come of itself." 

Try this: Assert to a friend, real or imaginary, some simple 
fact, just saying, This is a fact. Say it again with an emphatic 
stroke of the hand. Say it again, with much abandon, banging 
your desk vigorously with your first. 

iTitchener, Primer, p. 146. 



GESTURE 473 

The impulse to gesture. From what has been said it 
should be clear that gesture should spring from impulse, 
and not be mere mechanical motions made by rule or 
imitation. It should be real expression, — outward re- 
sponse to inner impulse. All ideas and all feelings are 
motor. If we center our attention upon the ideas of our 
speech and if we are in the spirit of what we are saying, 
we shall have impulses to action. And if our attention 
centers most strongly upon major points, our gesture 
impulses will be strongest at those points; and the 
anxious question of the beginner, ''Where shall I ges- 
ture?" will be answered. Gesture being in its nature 
emphatic, since it is an added means of expression, should 
mark only ideas worthy of emphasis. 

If we were perfectly normal beings, this might be al- 
most enough to say on the subject. But we are not 
normal. There is habitual restraint and repression. 
We have habits of making a few, limited movements ; and 
we say others do not ' ' feel natural. ' ' We are restrained 
by self -consciousness. We may be stiff and awkward off 
the platform, and more so on the platform. Hence some 
training becomes necessary, in order that the impulse to 
gesture may have a fair chance ; and later it may be de- 
sirable, after freedom has been gained, to somewhat 
prune the natural action. 

First stage of gesture training. Gesture training 
should not be hurried, and the first stage should be 
limited to gaining freedom and responsiveness to the 
impulses. As a first step, just try to stop restraining 
yourself. Don't stick your hands in your pockets or be- 
hind your back; for this has the effect of tying them 
up. Let them hang freely at your sides. To be free re- 
quires that there be no nervous clutching, no doubling 



474 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

up, no fussing with clothing, no rigid holding at the sides. 
The hands should swing as loosely as when you are walk- 
ing. Then speak something of a vigorous character, ex- 
temporized or memorized, your own ideas or a bit from a 
selection. Let yourself go ; try hard to express the idea 
to your imaginary audience. If you can get away from 
self -consciousness, something will happen in the way of 
gesture. This something may consist of very queer 
motions. Never mind; encourage them, and go on talk- 
ing in an exaggerated way. If nothing comes of it, lift 
your hand up with a free movement from the shoulder 
and speak a vigorous paragraph without taking it down. 
It will be strange indeed if your hand does not do some- 
thing. Do not try to make it do anything in particular. 
Trust your muscles ; they know more about gesture than 
you do ! 

Poise. Gesture is often checked by the restrained 
position in which one stands. It is important to stand 
in good poise. To be poised is to stand easily erect, 
without limpness or slouchiness and without waste of 
muscular effort. The chin is neither thrust forward nor 
drawn in, the chest is active, up, alive (whatever term 
you please), the hips thrust neither forward nor back- 
ward, the weight borne directly over the hips and all 
resting on the balls of the feet. The weight may be 
borne on both feet or on either foot ; but there must be no 
sagging in either hip. The feet should not ordinarily 
be held together, or on a line, nor yet far apart. In this 
position it is possible to transfer weight from one foot to 
the other without effort ; hence one is free to step or turn 
easily in either direction, without *^ walking over one's 
self." And this freedom is of first-class importance to 
good action. 

Free body action. Gesture is much more than move- 



GESTURE 475 

ments of hands and arms; the simplest gesture affects 
the whole body, and one of the chief causes of awkward- 
ness, stiffness and the ^^ put-on" effect, is failure of the 
body to yield so as to produce harmonious action. More- 
over, if the body is not free to turn, if the feet are 
fastened to the floor, the speaker as he turns to various 
parts of his audience, Tvill get into twisted attitudes, 
which are not only awkward but give him a feeling of 
restraint. There is a constant need of adjustment by 
changing the position of the feet and shifting weight. 
These movements are usually very slight and are uncon- 
scious when one is poised. They are only the natural 
movements which belong to good bearing off the plat- 
form. "Without them a speaker is likely to fall into the 
swing of a torsion pendulum ; or if he does not turn his 
body at all, his head will move like an advertising au- 
tomaton in a show window. 

Another bad result of having one 's feet metaphorically 
bolted to the floor is that of facing most of the time in 
one direction; owing to the fact that a turn without 
foot adjustment puts a twist in the knee joints which 
one unconsciously relieves by quickly turning back. 
And as a speaker who stands stock still usually has a 
favorite position for his feet, he is liable to acquire the 
habit of looking at one side of his audience, with mere 
glances at the rest. 

The chest is a point of great importance to poise and 
free action. One should feel it as the center of energy. 
This gives a feeling of buoyancy and easy strength which 
is most helpful to the gesture impulse. One is not likely 
to feel like gesturing when in a sagging or awkward 
position. 

Certain exercises will be helpful in gaining the poise, 
freedom and coordinated action needed. These may be, 



476 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

and usually are, very silly movements in themselves; 
but so are the exercises that musicians or athletes go 
through in preparation, or the ^^ setting-up'' exercises of 
military drill. But anything that is needed is not silly. 
The exercises described below should be practised per- 
sistently ; for it cannot be expected that a little practice 
will overcome the habits of a life-time. Practise them 
with the room filled with fresh air, and they will be 
found restful after hard study. 

There should be no misunderstanding about these 
exercises. They are not gestures and any practice upon 
a '^ handy set" of motions as gestures would be vicious. 
These exercises are simply to aid in gaining ease, free- 
dom and responsiveness to impulse, and in breaking up 
set habits, such as making one or two movements monoto- 
nously ; and in making all natural motions seem natural. 
A very great variety of movement is possible, and the 
greatest possible variety of movement should be prac- 
tised. The student can readily add to the exercises 
here given, after these have been mastered.^ 

"Work out the exercises as you read. They will not 
then prove to be so complicated as they may at first ap- 
pear. Go through them deliberately, with your mind on 
what you are doing; and repeat each exercise several 
times. Do the exercises twice a day for a long period. 

Exercises for Poise 

1. Sit in an armless chair of fair height, without 
touching the back, with head erect, feet resting easily 
but squarely on the floor, arms relaxed in the lap, and 

1 The exercises in this chapter which are "set solid," and those 
in the chapter on Voice Training, are by my colleague, Pro- 
fessor G. B. Muchmore. He wishes it stated that most of them 
are drawn from his work at the School of Expression, Boston ; 
but that since he has set down but a portion of those used in that 
school, has added some, and has modified others as a result of 
his college teaching, he does not wish by this acknowledgment to 
make Dr. Curry responsible for this production. 



GESTURE 477 

the chest expanded but not strained. (Expansion 
should be in all directions ; not merely forward with con- 
traction at the back.) Move gently forward and back 
and from side to side, until the position is found in 
which the body seems to remain erect with the slightest 
effort. This may take repeated trials. 

2. Keeping the feeling of poise gained in Exercise 1, 
stand easily erect, with the heels together, letting the 
toes find a comfortable position with the weight well for- 
ward on the balls of the feet. Focus the attention at 
the notch of the sternum and slowly rise on the toes, and 
at the same time lift the arms to a lateral horizontal 
position; sustain until there is something of the feeling 
of lightness one has when up to the arm pits in water; 
then return slowly to the former position, keeping the 
weight well under control. Do not push the hips for- 
ward or let the body rest back on the heels. 

3. Take the position described in Exercise 2 and 
slowly move toward the right until the weight is wholly 
on one foot and the other foot rests lightly on the floor. 
Place the free foot as far as possible to the left without 
disturbing the body or stiffening the leg, then slowly 
move the body toward the free foot until the weight is 
well over it, and it has become the supporting or 
*' strong" foot. Place the free foot forward and slowly 
move the weight forward over it. Place the foot now 
free to the side and move the weight over it; move the 
foot now free back, and transfer the weight. The move- 
ment can now be made in any direction. 

Exercises for Relaxation 

4. Whole body. Stand erect and let the head sink 
forward on the chest ; then let the shoulders droop, and 
the arms hang limp. Now slowly fold the spine from 
the top downward, being sure that the head leads at all 
times. Do not bend the knees or strain the muscles of 
the legs. Unfold the body, being sure that the move- 
ment begins at the hips, that the head follows, and that 
the arms and shoulders come gradually into the normal 
position. 



478 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

If these directions are followed, the head will be the 
last part of the body to assume an erect position. Faults 
to be avoided in the execution of this exercise are, in 
folding, a hinge movement at the hips with a straight 
back, and, in the unfolding movement, cramping the 
neck and lifting the shoulders, thereby making it neces- 
sary to let them drop at the completion of the exercise. 

5. Jaw, Standing or sitting erect, let the head drop 
forward on the chest as if asleep ; relax the jaw, tongue, 
eyelids and facial muscles. Focus the attention at the 
base of the neck behind, being sure that there is no un- 
necessary muscular exertion, and slowly lift the head to 
a normal position, — the mouth at this point should be 
open at least an inch, — then let the head back as far as 
possible, then bring it forward to an erect position. 

6. Neck. From the forward position of the head de- 
scribed in Exercise 5, slowly roll the head around, de- 
scribing as large a circle as possible. Keep the face 
forward ; see that neck muscles not necessarily used are 
relaxed ; and that the pivotal point is at the base of the 
neck. Repeat in the reverse direction. 

7. Arms, a. Stand erect, with the weight forward, 
arms lifted straight to the front, palms down. Let the 
arms fall lifelessly to the side and swing as a result of 
their own momentum. 

&. Place the arms parallel above the head with the 
palms in, and let them fall. 

c. Extend the arms to a lateral horizontal position, 
and let them fall lifelessly. 

d. Place the arms as in c; let the fingers relax, then 
the forearm, bending at the elbow, then the upper arm. 

e. Reverse d, beginning by lifting the shoulders 
slightly. Energize the muscles of the upper arm, with 
the forearm pendent; energize the muscles of the fore- 
arm, then of the wrist, and lastly of the fingers. 

8. Wrists, a. With the upper arms at the side, fore- 
arms lifted at right angles and palms down, shake the 
forearms in such a way that the hands move freely at 
the wrist joints. 



GESTURE 479 

6. Kepeat with the palms up. 

9. Fingers. Grasp the left hand with the right by 
placing the thumb of the right hand in the palm of the 
left and the fingers on the back; shake the left hand 
until the fingers and thumb move limply at their base. 
Reverse the hands and repeat. 

10. Legs. a. Stand well poised on one foot on the edge 
of a platform or a step and let the other foot hang over 
the edge until it is felt as a dead weight ; then lifting it 
forward let it fall and swing with its own momentum. 
Do not allow the body to slump on the hip of the strong 
side. 

6. Stand on the floor with the weight on one foot and 
lift the free foot forward with the lower leg dangling 
from the knee, then let it drop ; lift the leg to the side 
and let it drop ; back, and let it drop ; across the strong 
leg in front, and let it drop. 

Exercises for Coordixation 

11. a. Standing with the weight on one foot, place the 
free foot at the side, and the arm of the same side across 
the body till the finger tips touch the opposite shoulder ; 
then simultaneously unfold the arm to a lateral horizon- 
tal position and cross the strong foot with the free foot. 
Reverse and repeat. 

&. To Exercise a add a pivotal action of the head from 
side to side in the direction that corresponds to the move- 
ment of the foot and in opposition to that of the arm. 

12. Stand with the weight on one foot, arms lifted 
and the tips of the fingers touching the chest. Step 
firmly forward and at the same time unfold the arms 
to a lateral horizonal position. Carry this unfolding 
movement out to the very tips of the fingers and see that 
the body is well supported on the forward foot. 

Repeat, starting with the weight on the other foot. 
Repeat, unfolding the arms at an angle of about for- 
ty-five degrees from the horizontal. 

13. a. Group the four fingers of the hand closely about 
the thumb and slowly unfold the fingers, initiating the 



480 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

movement at the center of the palm. See that all fin- 
gers are moving in opposition to the thumb, continuously 
and simultaneously, and at about equal distances, until 
the whole hand is completely expanded. Do not lay 
the thumb back in a plane with the palm. 

&. Prom this expanded condition, slowly close the 
hand, this time initiating the action at the tips of the 
fingers, until they group again about the thumb. The 
fingers should not be stiff or cramped at any time. 

14. a. Stand well erect, slightly forward on the right 
foot, stretch the right arm forward and describe with 
the hand a figure eight lying on its side. Move the hand 
in the direction indicated by the arrows in the accom- 




panying cut. Let the movement be initiated largely at 
the shoulder. Do not exaggerate the sway of the body 
too much, but let it respond easily to the movement of 
the arm, the extent to which the body moves depending 
mainly on the size of the figure described. 

Repeat with the left arm; then with both arms; then 
with the arms moving in opposition to each other. Make 
the figure now large and now small. 

&. Repeat the figure with the arms extended laterally, 
first with either arm, and then with both arms. 

c. Repeat occasionally with the movement in opposi- 
tion to the arrows. 

15. a. Stand with the weight on the left foot and place 
the right foot slightly forward in a relaxed condition ; 
focus the eyes on a definite point to the right, turn the 
head till it faces in the same direction; place the right 
foot slightly behind the left and transfer the weight 
back on to it, and at the same time relax the left, which 
should be allowed to adjust itself. Do not lift it. The 
eyes, head, body and feet should now face directly 
toward the point first selected. 

&. With the weight on the right foot back, turn the 



GESTURE 481 

eyes to the right to a definite point, then the head ; turn 
the left heel out by pivoting on the ball of the foot, and 
immediately follow this action by transferring the weight 
to the left foot. Let the right foot adjust itself. 

Eepeat a and b alternately until a complete circle has 
been made ; then reverse. 

c. With the weight on the left foot back, turn the eyes 
to the right, and then the head, and step forward by 
replacing the right foot. 

d. With the weight on the right foot forward, look to 
the left, turn the head, and step forward to the left. 
Movement may now be made from any position in any 
direction. These exercises should be practised until 
great facility in moving in any direction is attained. 

Second stage of gesture training. We will now assume 
that the student of gesture has had his first experience 
and to some degree gotten over his self -consciousness, 
so that he can make a movement without stopping his 
mental processes; that he has gained some poise and re- 
sponsiveness. This may take him some weeks. We may 
now proceed to more definite work which would not 
have been safe at first. 

First, you may question yourself a bit: Do your 
gestures express something? Does your hand feel it is 
talking to the audience ? Does it seem to say. Note this 
point in particular; or, This is of little account; or, 
This is displeasing; or, This is fundamental; This is 
noble, inspiring; Put this idea from you? These and 
many other things your action can say and you should 
begin to feel it is speaking. 

Try now to express shades of meaning. Say with your 
hands : This is a fact. This is a fact, but I am indif- 
ferent to it. This is a fact; make what you can of it. 
This is a fact and you must accept it. Work in all sorts 
of moods and mental attitudes. You can easily gather a 



482 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

collection of varied sentences. Or you can find them in 
numerous texts. 

Turn to the selection, Who is to Blame (see end of 
Chapter XIV. I assume that the selection has been 
studied before this stage of gesture work is taken up). 
Try to express the subtle difference between taking the 
words ' ' a man may vote regularly, ' ' as expressing a con- 
tempt for voting, or as asserting that even regular voting 
is not enough. Try to express with your hand the idea 
that your hearers are all familiar with the Pharisee story. 
At line 14 try to express the underlying, Don't you see 
how it works ? In lines 54-60 try to suggest, first the in- 
difference, then the snobbish aloofness, then the positive 
but secret determination ; and then in the lines which fol- 
low, drive home the sweeping denunciation. These are 
but a few of the suggestions that might be made for this 
selection. 

Keep on at the effort to express one idea or feeling till 
you conquer it. Depend upon vivid conception, rather 
than upon planning particular movements. Get before 
a big mirror and learn from ^^the only honest man." 
Do not be afraid of the sneer at the ^^looking-glass 
orator." What might be absurd in an experienced 
speaker is not necessarily so in a beginner. Besides, I 
am not asking you to practise the gestures of a speech 
you are to deliver. At first your problem was to do 
something, to throw off restraint. Now you must be- 
come acquainted with yourself and see what you are 
doing. Self -consciousness is bad, but it is best to settle 
some things once for all, rather than to carry indefinitely 
an uneasy consciousness of awkwardness and mannerism. 
All the time you should keep up practice for freedom of 
action. This, with a developed feeling that you are talk- 
ing through your gesture and a knowledge that your 



GESTURE 48S 

gestures are not noticeable as gestures, because of stiff- 
ness or weakness or superfluous movements, will soon 
bring you out of self-consciousness. It is usually im- 
possible to improve in any respect without an unpleasant 
stage of self-consciousness. 

Some rather fanciful gestures may be useful in train- 
ing your muscles. Follow with eye and hand the flight 
of a bird which darts about in a large auditorium and 
at last escapes through an open window. Follow in the 
same way the course of a troop of cavalry which is 
charging over broken ground, now out of sight, now re- 
appearing, and now dashing against the enemy. Count 
fifty, letting every fifth numeral stand in your mind for 
a distinct idea which you try to express by gesture. 

Speak the whole of the first paragraph of "Who is to 
Blame, keeping at least one hand up all the time. This 
is only an exercise, of course ; such a direction for real 
speaking would be indefensible. Still you should have 
the paragraph thoroughly at command and speak it with 
as much meaning as you can. 

Third stage of gesture training. When one has reached 
the stage where he feels that he is really expressing 
through action, and only then, he may venture to seek 
improvement by a somewhat closer examination of the 
mechanism of gesture. Observe, first, that the hand, 
when sustained in the air, need not be making motions 
all the time, though it should not be limp. At the side 
the hand should be free from all impulses ; but when up 
it should be ready for action. After the stroke of a 
gesture the hand often remains at rest, holding attention 
to the thought presented, until at the end of the pause 
the next idea is taken up. This will be true generally 
where the thought is positive or deliberative. But where 
one does not wish to hold attention to the idea, as where 



484 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

it is waved aside as unimportant, there is no appreciable 
rest. When the gesture is finished in any ease, the hand 
should drop or pass into the preparation for a new ges- 
ture without attracting further attention. To avoid 
attracting attention to the way your hand comes down, 
let it fall before or after a pause, not in the pause. 

The way to get away from a finished gesture, is to 
forget it ; and the way to forget it is to think of the next 
point. It helps the beginner to turn to another part of 
the audience, as it is nearly always proper to do. A 
slight turn, after the pause and just as you begin the next 
phrase, will take your attention and the attention of your 
audience off the gesture, and your hands will come down 
without either stiffness or floppiness. 

This suggests an answer to a question which beginners 
often ask : How shall I respond to the natural impulse 
at many points in a speech to step forward, and yet not 
walk off the platform ? There is no real danger of step- 
ping off ; but it is not pleasant for the audience to see a 
speaker leaning over or pacing back and forth on the very 
edge. A man of good bearing can easily step back while 
speaking, but he rarely has to give the matter attention. 
Being free in his movements, his feet adjust themselves 
under him as he turns from side to side. These move- 
ments may carry him forward or backward. The drop- 
ping back of one foot after the other may carry him back 
a considerable distance in a single sentence, yet no one 
notices. Ordinarily these adjustments are slight, and 
the beginner must not suppose that he should be con- 
stantly moving about. Often the first freedom shows 
itself in restless movements, which make the observer 
want to cry out, * ' Stand still ! ' ' 

But there are usually many places where a wide-awake 
speaker will have a true impulse to move forward; as 



GESTURE 485 

where the thought is particularly positive and direct. 
Such movements are themselves expressive gestures. At 
times the speaker steps toward the right or the left side 
of his audience; perhaps as he takes up a new point. 
Such a movement may help a speaker to get away from 
a completed climax, or a certain feeling or attitude, even 
from a high pitch of voice. The change helps in getting 
a new start, nearer the colloquial; and relieves both 
speaker and audience from the tiresome effect produced 
by one who stands stock-still. 

Try these exercises: Stand facing left with right 
arm extended to the left; turn to right letting the arm 
turn with the body. Again, same position, swing arm 
alone to right. Stand facing right with right arm ex- 
tended right ; turn to left leaving arm unmoved. Stand 
facing left with both arms extended left; turn to right 
leaving left arm unmoved and letting right arm swing 
with body. Put in no strokes with hands at all, but let 
them freely open. Note the large sweeping character of 
these movements. Turn the last into a real gesture with 
the words: *'My friends, we must all face this problem 
together." Be sure to let your eyes sweep over the 
whole of your imaginary audience. 

Here are a few more questions by means of which you 
can criticize yourself: Do your arms swing from the 
shoulder? Are your elbows free from your sides? Does 
every joint from shoulder to finger tip have a part in 
your gesture? Do your finger tips describe curves, 
rather than make angles or thrusts? Does your body 
respond by moving now with, now from the hand? Do 
you in moving forward, backward, or sideways with a 
gesture, really respond from head to foot, rather than 
tip and twist with your feet stuck to the floor? Does 
your bodily response prevent straining of your arms 



486 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

backward? Do your arms swing freely into all ranges, 
high and low? Do they at times swing high in prepa- 
ration ? Do they start soon enough to permit a free, full 
motion? Do your gestures, generally, freely reveal the 
opened palms? (Do not try to hold the fingers in any 
position, and especially do not hold the thumb down.) 
Do your hands sometimes take a prone position? Can 
you straighten your arm and open your hand at the 
finish of a gesture without a jerk or stab ? Is the stroke 
of your gesture finished on the accented syllable of the 
emphatic word? Do your gestures disappear without 
flourish, doubling of the fist, or any other motion 
which catches the eye ? Do you avoid stepping one foot 
over the other as you move right or left, especially as 
you leave the platform ? All these questions you should 
be able to answer in the affirmative. 

Kinds of gesture. At the stage of work which we now 
assume, we shall be aided by a rough classification of 
gestures. It is made, however, not so much for its own 
value as because it furnishes a convenient way of giving 
certain suggestions and warnings. One should have at- 
tained a good deal of freedom in gesture before Consider- 
ing these ; for in the early part of his work he should not 
trouble himself about absurdities, but rather dare to be 
absurd. 

Locative gestures. First, we will notice gestures which 
indicate place, with reference either to visible objects or 
imagined objects. Sentences for illustration: This is 
the picture I refer to. ^'On they went, charging up 
that fearful path, eleven against seventy." 

Suggestions : Avoid unnecessary pointing ; as in say- 
ing, You and me. It is unnecessary to indicate the seat 
of the emotions as in either heart or stomach every time 
one refers to a feeling. Beware of unfortunate point- 



GESTURE 487 

ing; as when one indicates that the good sheep in his 
audience are on the right and the bad goats on the left, 
or whirls upon the chairman as a dastardly villain. But 
note that much depends upon where the speaker looks. 
Since the audience follows the speaker's eyes more than 
they do his hand, they are not likely to turn to an indi- 
vidual when the speaker says dramatically, ''Thou art 
the man ! ' ' unless he both points and looks at some un- 
fortunate. Do not look fixedly at any point within easy 
range of your hearer's e^^es, unless you wish them to 
look there also. They will not often turn, however, to 
a point toward the back of the room. Do not look at a 
blackboard, chart or picture unless you wish your audi- 
ence to look there at that moment. 

Do not look at a commonplace object, such as a white 
wall, within easy range of their eyes, when you wish 
them to imagine a scene. "What they actually see checks 
their imagination. ''They bore their hero back to the 
little village where he first saw the light, back to the little 
cemetery on the hill, and they buried him there," de- 
claimed a student; and he pointed with two hands and 
looked at the floor. Ever since that hero has lain buried 
in a hole cut through the dusty old matting in front of 
that platform. You will observe that looking definitely 
limits imagination. "When one says. From north to 
south, meaning merely great distance, and looks at a 
certain point as north and another as south, one con- 
fines the distance within the room. There should be in 
such a case an indefinite sweep of look and action, which 
suggests. As far as you like. It is unnecessary in most 
eases, unless one is in the locality referred to, to pay 
strict attention to points of the compass ; but having indi- 
cated the right as east, it should remain east to avoid 
confusing the picture, as, for example, in describing a 



488 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

battle. Do not confuse the literal with the figurative. 
One should not intimate that ^Hhe great heart of the 
universe ' ' is within his thorax. 

In spite of all these ^^don'ts" the locative gesture may 
be helpful in pointing out literal objects and in tickling 
the imagination of the audience when one is describing 
scenes and actions. Many of the absurdities referred to 
are due to trusting to mechanical plotting rather than 
to a true imaginative conception. And the same remarks 
may be applied to absurdities touched upon below. 

Illustrative, or picturing gestures. We have these in 
the simplest form when gestures accompany such sen- 
tences as, The cloud was this shape, He walked like this, 
Throw down that bauble, He stretched forth his hand. 
The illustrative gesture attempts to do for speech in a 
limited way what an illustrator does for written words. 
It may sometimes stimulate imagination far more, but 
has obvious limitations. Illustrative gesture may also do 
for language what the figure of speech does : it is at times 
metaphorical, as when one speaks of a lofty ideal, or a 
foundation principle. 

Suggestions: Do not attempt the impossible. Some- 
times dramatic gestural description is attempted that is 
too complex, even when truly carried out. Sometimes 
the fault is simply inadequacy, as when a preacher held 
up his own pudgy forefinger in saying, ''the finger of 
God." Do not reduce the figurative to the literal. This 
point is not easy to state, and has been overstated. 
When it is said that we should never use ''those gestures 
which indicate a literal carrying out of the figurative 
language,'^ this might be understood as denying our 
most primitive use of gesture, and as forbidding one to 
make a wry face when one speaks of a "bitter pill,'' or 
as a criticism on the Crow Indian who told me the 



GESTURE 489 

sermon we had listened to was a '^high-up talk/' with 
hand held above his head. Perhaps it is sufficient to say, 
keep always in mind the fact that a figurative statement 
is figurative. Also, be careful with faded metaphors. 
A speaker extended his arm when he mentioned ''the 
arm of a crane." I saw a debater, describing what he 
considered the repeated encroachments of England upon 
the Transvaal, move down the platform one step for each 
encroachment. 

The speaker should never forget that he is not an actor. 
He has not even a tin sword to draw, and no scabbard 
to return it to; and to provide paraphernalia is rank 
absurdity. When the great orator Burke, wishing to 
defy his enemies in Parliament, drew from his bosom an 
actual gauntlet and hurled it upon the floor, he was 
laughed at as he deserved. Distinguish also the narrator 
from the impersonator; that is, there is a difference be- 
tween telling about another's words and deeds and 
speaking in his person. 

"A prominent reader recites . . . Whittier*s *Maud Muller.' 
Wlien he comes to the lines : 

*She stooped where the cool spring bubbled up, 
And filled for him her small tin cup, 
And blushed as she gave it, looking down 
At her feet so bare, and her tattered gown,' 

on the first line he stoops down until his knuckles almost touch the 
floor ; in the second line he dips at the water ; then he stands up and 
tries to blush as he represents Maud MuUer giving the water to the 
Judge on horseback ; and lastly he makes a gesture and looks 
down directing the attention of the audience to his own feet which 
are not *bare' and to the 'tattered gown' which is not there." i 

When speaking the actual words of another, imper- 
sonation in tone and action may be carried farther ; as in 
telling a story with a dialogue. Note also that when an 
audience is aroused they will accept extremes at which 
in the beginning they might laugh. A classmate of 

1 Fulton and Trueblood, Practical Elocution^ p. 338. 



490 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

mine '^brought down the house" by accompanying the 
opening words of his declamation, ' ' Roll back the curtain 
of history," with a magnificent, double-armed sweep. 
We were watching him critically as he began ; but later, 
had he succeeded in arousing us, we might have accepted 
his gesture without a thought. Some go as far as to 
say, make no gesture in your opening words : you are too 
self-conscious, and your audience is not yet interested in 
your subject. 

Suggestive gestures are frequently better for the public 
speaker than those more fully illustrative. If Burke 
had made a movement just suggesting the throwing 
down of a gauntlet, the imagination of his hearers might 
have formed a vivid image of the act, with no hint of 
absurdity. As an over-elaborate stage setting may check 
imagination, so elaborate gestures may also. 

Manifestive gestures is another classification that has 
been made. This is hardly a necessary classification, 
but serves to emphasize the use of gestures to manifest 
our feelings toward an object or idea ; as when one tosses 
off a proposal as of no account. These are suggestive 
in character, but also partake of the nature of 

Emphatic gestures. These are the most serviceable 
gestures of all for the speaker. They are the last to be 
thought of by one going mechanically to work to deter- 
mine his gestures, for they do not necessarily suggest 
any picture at all. Often a beginner, with a false idea of 
how to begin, says, ^^ There aren't any gestures in that 
speech, ' ' which is equivalent to saying, There is no force 
in it. All gesture is emphatic in nature, but this term is 
applied to the plain gesture which simply says. What I 
say is true. It may move in any direction and have 
much variety. The principal suggestion to be made is to 
avoid the habit of making the same movement all the 



GESTURE 491 

time or gesturing too constantly; for either of these 
habits soon destroy all effect from gesturing. Where 
every idea is emphasized, nothing is emphasized. For 
the rest, the general training advised should suffice. 
Any speaker who is in earnest will make emphatic 
gestures. 

Conclusion. It is difficult to discuss gesture on paper 
without making the matter seem mechanical. But if you 
will follow out the course of training as laid down here, 
persistently working at each stage without hurrying on 
to the next, you should become able to gesture natu- 
rally and effectively, without the necessity of giving the 
matter a thought, although it may always be best to 
occasionally observe yourself as a safeguard against bad 
habits. If you insist on working mechanically, you will 
have a much poorer chance of arriving at easy effective- 
ness. If you refuse to work at all, you are likely to limit 
much your powers of expression, or to do many awkward 
and absurb things which detract from the force of your 
speaking. 



CHAPTER XVI 

PLATFORM MANNERS 

Platform manners are to be learned chiefly by observa- 
tion; but a few suggestions may relieve the embarrass- 
ment of beginners. We may say that a speaker should be 
a simple, unpretentious gentleman on the platform; but 
that hardly finishes the matter. To say that a man 
who ^^has something to say which he very much wishes 
to say, ' ' will conduct himself properly, is to utter a half 
truth. The matter is of some importance, for every move 
a speaker makes from the time he is first noticed by the 
audience, may affect the success of his speech. Perhaps 
people ought not to judge him by his appearance ; but 
many will, and decide that they do or do not like him, 
or have confidence in him, before he speaks a word. 
And he may be under temptation to carry off his 
*' nerves" with a swagger or a slouch, or to take on an 
apologetic excuse-me-for-presuming air. To step for- 
ward, without attracting any attention to how he does it, 
but with an air which impresses upon the audience, ''I 
have business with you," is to make a good start. Noth^ 
ing will help so much in this as to be conscious of having 
something to say worth saying, and to lose self-conscious- 
ness by thinking of the purpose of speaking. Add to 
this, modesty, self-respect and respect for the audience, 
and a speaker will probably bear himself well ; provided 
he is capable of good bearing off the platform. 

A few ''don'ts" are in order: Don't follow a big 

492 



PLATFORM MANNERS 493 

curve in walking forward; and don't, on the other hand, 
stride down the back of the platform and turn front with 
a military swing. ^'A straight line is the shortest dis- 
tance between two points/' If open to you, follow this 
line to a position well forward. If you can do so with- 
out twisting your neck, look at the audience as you come 
forward. The position of the chairman, and perhaps 
other persons on the platform, may interfere with carry- 
ing out these suggestions. 

The chair is to be recognized with a **Mr. Chairman," 
or a bow, or both. Be deliberate over this recognition 
and speak in a firm tone. It helps you in maintaining 
self-possession, in finding your voice, and also in gaining 
the ^^ sense of communication.'' The salutation may be 
given from the side of the platform, or one may walk to 
the front and then turn to the chairman. The audience 
too should be recognized. To say ''Ladies and Gentle- 
men, ' ' is not only good form : it helps the speaker strike 
the conversational note, provided he makes the saluta- 
tion genuine. The objection some make to the use of 
this salutation by a student speaker seems to me to 
spring from a feeling that his speaking is necessarily un- 
real. It is, of course, good form merely to bow. But one 
hesitates to use the word ''bow," so suggestive is it of the 
profound obeisances which, however appropriate for 
actors and musicians, are certainly absurd for public 
speakers. If the young speaker will always think of 
his bow as a genuine salutation, such as he might give an 
individual ^or whom he has respect, he will not go far 
wrong. He will almost certainly go right, if he has 
gained good bearing. 

There should be some form of leave taking, usually a 
bow at the end. Do not say "I thank you." I have 
asked many intelligent people if they considered this 



494 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

expression a desirable convention, and they have in- 
variably said, ^^No." Some good speakers may use it; 
but it is used chiefly by those v^ho feel the need of some- 
thing to relieve the awkwardness of walking away, and 
who object to the overdone, formal bows. Make your 
bow a genuine good-by, and it will feel all right. ^^I 
thank you" has already grown into a meaningless con- 
vention. If you have some special reason for thanking 
your audience, do so in less abrupt terms. 

Some young speakers are loath to recognize the audience in any 
way ; but they would not begin even a casual conversation with a 
friend on the street without some salutation, nor leave off without 
some form of farewell. It is certainly fitting for young speakers 
to show respect for their audiences ; old speakers are scrupulously 
polite. One must, of course, adapt one's self to the occasion. 

I wish to add a few more ^'don'ts": Do not address 
every imaginable division of your audience; as, '^Mr. 
Chairman, Members of the Republican League of Jones- 
ville, Citizens of Jonesville, Ladies and Gentlemen, and 
others." There may be special reason for distinguishing 
some group present, but ordinarily not unless it is present 
as a group. Do not address the ''Honorable Judges" 
at a debate, if they are scattered among the audience. 
Do not take up time with repeated addresses to anybody, 
unless you have some purpose to serve. 

Don't hang over a desk or chair, like a tired horse 
over a hitching post. Don't make a practice of leaning 
against the desk, or of keeping your hands in your pock- 
ets, or of indulging in any other ''free and easy" ac- 
tions. The objection is not that these are necessarily 
offensive, but that they are hardly becoming to young 
speakers, and that they are ways of yielding to nervous- 
ness. It is better that a beginner should avoid them. 
One who has gained poise and self-possession is not likely 



PLATFORM MANNERS 495 

to over-indulge in these forms of relief. As you turn to 
leave the platform, don 't cross your legs by stepping right 
with the left foot first, or left with the right foot first. 
Don 't forget to be, in small as well as in large ways, * ^ a 
genleman conversing. ' ' 

The larger matters of courtesy to opponents and to audience 
have been considered in the chapters on Persuasion. 

Duties of the chairman. A few words may be per- 
mitted here concerning the manners of the chairman. 
It is his primary duty, not to impress himself upon the 
meeting, but to make it a success. He should not, unless 
something in his relation to the situation gives him a 
special license, indulge in long talks himself ; but should 
limit himself to what will expedite business and help the 
speakers to get into touch with the audience. He should 
not attempt to forecast what a speaker is about to say 
in a way in which will at all seem to dictate the course 
that should be pursued, or that will detract from the 
force of the speaker 's remarks. The chairman does well 
to consult with the speaker in regard to what might be 
said to help. 

The chairman should not feel bound to lavish extreme 
compliments upon the speaker. These may be very em- 
barrassing. I recall hearing a man who had borne an 
honorable part as a brigadier general in the Civil War, 
introduced in terms which implied that he was the equal 
of Grant and Lee. It was difficult for the speaker to 
avoid seeming either to accept this fulsome praise, or to 
be ungracious to the presiding officer while rejecting it. 
On the other hand, the chairman should be careful in 
making facetious remarks at the expense of the speaker. 
While much seems to be permitted at lively banquets, 
and some toastmasters seem to think it their duty to 



496 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

embarrass the speakers, one often feels that the limits of 
good taste are exceeded. At a banquet of students and 
professors the student toastmaster cracked aged jokes at 
the expense of certain dignified gentlemen in a way that 
made one apprehensive when he arose to introduce the 
last speaker ; and one could feel the relief of the assem- 
blage when he said only, ^'Gentlemen, the President of 
the University." Certainly on any but the lightest 
occasions, the chairman should help, not embarrass, the 
speakers. 



CHAPTER XVII 

VOICE TRAINING 

There should be little need of emphasizing the fact 
that a good voice is of great value to the public speaker. 
We know that a good voice is of value in all our inter- 
course ; and the work suggested below is just as good for 
the voice in conversation as in public speaking. But 
especially to the public speaker a voice that is distinct, 
pleasing, expressive and that will endure hard work, is 
a great help and a great satisfaction. 

The prejudice against voice training, which one sometimes meets 
with, has been in part justified. The quack has been particularly 
active in this field, making a pretentious show of knowledge that is 
mostly false, and especially training to affectation. Nevertheless 
voices can be improved ; and there are to-day men and women com- 
petent for the work, both in their scientific knowledge of the vocal 
organs and in their skill to teach. I have asked one of this number 
to prepare the exercises given below, endeavoring to make them (1) 
brief, (2) sufficient for ordinary needs, (3) inclusive of nothing 
not fully approved by science and experience, (4) safe as possible 
in the hands of those not highly skilled. 

It is worthy of note that vocal training is beneficial to the health. 
I know of no one who more enthusiastically advises this training 
than Andrew D. White, who considers it one reason for the long 
life he has enjoyed, now some fifty years longer than physicians 
prophesied for him in his youth. On his eightieth birthday, in a 
message to the students of Cornell University, he wrote among "A 
Dozen Maxims" this : 

"Practice inflating your lungs for five minutes, at least three 
times a day, frequently adding vocal exercises. This will be one of 
the best safeguards against tuberculosis, and if you have anything 
worth saying in public, your audience will hear you and be glad to 
listen. ... A firm, strong, pleasing voice is one of the best factors 
of success, both in and after college. How many good thinkers I 
have seen fail in securing attention because they were not heard!" 

497 



498 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Qualities desired. First must stand distinctness. If 
we are not heard we had better not speak. If we are not 
heard with ease we waste the attention of our hearers. 
Nothing is more likely to make an audience tired and 
peevish than difficulty in hearing. ^^AU I could hear was 
^1/ ^1/ ^1/ " growled a man as we came out from a lec- 
ture. The speaker, who had given an interesting lecture 
on a work for which he is famous, had not used unduly 
his I's; but his weak voice and quick, nervous utterance 
were inadequate in the great hall, and the grumbler had 
been annoyed. To distinctness should be added strength 
of voice ; but it is a mistake to suppose mere loudness will 
give a voice carrying power. Many speakers and many 
teachers exhaust themselves, ruin their voices and annoy 
their hearers by shouting to be heard; and yet their 
shouts fail where a quiet tone penetrates. There should 
be more reliance upon deliberation and clear-cut utter- 
ance, with full vowels and well formed consonants. And 
without a good tone to work with all else is difficult. A 
teacher in whose judgment of this subject I have great 
confidence, lays down these as essentials of the carrying 
power of the voice: the right amount of breath, purity 
of tone, free change of pitch between words, distinct ar- 
ticulation, vocal quantity, vocal quality and loudness. 
We see that the matter is not at all simple ; but we are 
relieved by learning that, to a great extent, we may rely 
for all these elements upon the general training of such 
exercises as those below. These will tend to bring our 
speech organs into a normal condition, give them greater 
strength and freedom of action, and will also increase 
control of the mechanism. 

Do not, in seeking distinctness, practise strange mo- 
tions of lips and tongue, for these will (unless under- 
taken under the direction of a skilled teacher), only in- 



VOICE TRAINING 499 

crease the rigidity of those organs. Eather seek for ease 
and freedom by the general exercises. And do not prac- 
tise abnormally hard combinations of sounds; certainly 
not until you have gained a good deal of flexibility. 

For endurance rely entirely upon the general training 
of such exercises as those below, which will give free nor- 
mal action, and upon practice in speaking. The more 
the voice is used, if well used, the stronger and more en- 
during it should become. Responsiveness of voice should 
also come from the training prescribed below. Nothing 
is more trying to a speaker than to have his voice fail 
to express what is in his mind and heart ; and few sen- 
sations are more delightful than to feel and hear one's 
voice responding fully and freely. To be responsive a 
voice must be flexible and free in inflection and range; 
and, further, it should have quality and rich and varied 
tone colors, that it may express all of one's varied 
thoughts and emotions. A voice may be too tight, too 
limited, too hard and colorless to express more than 
cold fact. 

One warning is in order: If you admire the rich 
baritone speaking voice and have but a light tenor, do 
not try to change your voice to a baritone by talking in a 
forced tone. You will only get a throaty, unmusical 
voice, with permanent throat trouble as a probable addi- 
tion. You must accept the voice nature gave you and 
improve it. And you can improve your light voice by 
increasing its quality, until it is as serviceable as a bari- 
tone. A high voice with much color and flexibility will 
seem, to any but the keenest ears, much lower than it 
actually is. After all, Webster 's voice is described as a 
tenor, and Lincoln's was even shrill at the beginning of 
a speech, though more musical as he warmed to his 
work. 



500 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

The teacher has far less trouble with those whose 
voices are naturally high, than with the many who pitch 
their voices too high for their natural range. Each per- 
son may be said to have a normal keynote, the note which 
is easiest for him. From this his voice ranges up and 
down, usually through several notes, and in animated dis- 
course through more than an octave. And this free move- 
ment of the voice contributes much to its pleasantness and 
its expressiveness. Now, it is a common fault to establish 
an abnormally high keynote, from which the voice rises 
but below which it rarely falls. Instead of running high 
and low, it runs high and higher; thereby greatly de- 
creasing its power of expression. This fault, which often 
becomes a habit, seems to be due primarily to speaking in 
a strained nervous state, in which, there is failure to dis- 
criminate values and to come into touch with one's 
audience. When one finds himself speaking in this way, 
he should stop deliberately and seek to get into the con- 
versational frame of mind. The teacher can often break 
up this strained manner of speaking, by asking a ques- 
tion about subject-matter, and then calling the student's 
attention to the difference beween his manner of an- 
swering and the manner in which he has been speaking. 
The teachings of Chapter II and XIII are in point ; and 
practice on exercises 13 and 14, below, will prove bene- 
ficial. 

Special defects, such as stammering, lisping and in- 
ability to produce certain sounds, may be helped and 
even cured by the general training here outlined; but 
usually the services of a skilled teacher are required. In 
many cases stammering can be cured, — really cured, not 
changed into a singsong; and in most cases relief is 
possible. 



VOICE TRAINING 501 

The preceding should not be taken to imply that the skilled 
teacher is not needed in every phase of voice training. In every 
department of our work he is needed, but in no other department 
is it so important that teacher and pupil come face to face as in 
voice training. The best of exercises are easily perverted, and 
much depends upon the trained ear. It is because of this fact and 
because some successful teachers have failed to make themselves 
clear when devoting a whole book to the subject, that no attempt is 
made here at a brief systematic treatment. Nevertheless the mat- 
ter is too important to pass over altogether ; and users of this text 
will find it convenient to have some exercises, at once standard and 
as safe as possible, laid out. 

For more detailed treatment of these topics, I refer especially to 
Mind and Voice, by S, S. Curry, Ph.D., a very successful teacher 
of voice. The Voice and Practical Phonology, by W. A. Aiken, 
M.D., and Voice Production, by Wesley Mills, M.D. For the very 
complex problems of enunciation and articulation we have the work 
done on ^'Visible Speech" by Alex. Melville Bell, and set forth in 
Sounds and their Relations. But as this book is very difficult, it 
is better for most to turn to the popularization of his work in the 
chapter on Molding Tone into Words, in Curry's Mind and Voice. 
Sweet's Handlook of Phonetics is another difficult but valuable 
work. 

Expression is voice training". We should observe 
that in a sense all vocal expression is voice training. 
Persistent practice in attempting to give full and ade- 
quate vocal interpretation to good literature, using se- 
lections of a wide range of feeling, will enrich the voice 
and is one of the best and safest forms of vocal culture ; 
and, it may be added, of mental culture. 

Practice must be persistent. All voice training is but 
folly without regular, persistent, intelligent practice, and 
the older one is the more practice he must have. If you 
wish to improve your voice, make up your mind to prac- 
tise fifteen minutes twice a day, as a minimum. You 
will not miss the time, for you will find the exercises a 
restful change. Do not practise, however, when you are 
tired out; and never practise when your mind is not 



502 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

alert. If possible, practise where you will not fear being 
overheard; for to practise vocal exercises with an effort 
to keep them subdued may injure your voice. Freedom 
is essential. 

The exercises given in the chapter on Gesture are an 
excellent preparation for voice training, and should be 
used along with those that follow. 

EXEKCISES FOR BREATHING^ 

1. Lie on your back flat on the floor. Place one hand 
well up on the chest and the other across the body just 
below the breast bone. Without interfering with your 
breathing, study its nature. What parts of the torso 
move ? Is the greater movement under the upper or the 
lower hand ? Is your breathing regular or irregular ; fast 
or slow ; deep or shallow ? Kepeat your study of breath- 
ing while standing erect. 

2. Lying in the position given in Exercise 1, take a 
slow deep breath and retain by maintaining a feeling of 
expansion or slight resistance under the lower hand, 
while the chest remains firm. Relax all the neck muscles, 
and do not attempt to control the breath by closing the 
throat. During the inhalation do not ^^push'' with the 
diaphragm, and do not let the central part of the torso 
collapse during exhalation; but rather let the muscles 
gradually relax. 

Increase from day to day the depth of breathing. To 
facilitate this, count mentally. For example, inhale dur- 
ing five counts, hold the breath for three counts, and re- 
lease the breath during five counts. Do not lengthen the 
^'hold" to the point of discomfort. After you are accus- 
tomed to this exercise, take it while standing, and while 
walking about the street. 

3. a. While lying on the floor with the arms free at the 
sides, take a full easy breath at the center of the body 
and slowly exhale by making a slight noise between the 

1 The exercises in this chapter have been arranged by G. B. 
Muchmore. See footnote to p. 476. 



VOICE TRAINING 503 

tongue and the upper teeth, — more like a whistle than a 
hiss. Make as little noise and use as little breath as is 
possible, but above all keep the escape of breath regular. 
b. Repeat the exercise, using the vowel ah instead of 
the whistle. 

4. Repeat the exercises given under 2, 3a and 36 while 
standing on the toes, with the arms extending slightly 
back of a lateral horizontal position. Keep the chest 
well expanded. 

Expansion of the Torso with Free Breathing 

5. a. Lie flat on the floor; place one hand well up on 
the chest and the other under the body at the small of the 
back. Separate the hands by muscular expansion of the 
torso, but without interfering with the rhythm of the 
breathing. Do not hold the breath during the act of 
expanding. 

6. With the torso thus expanded, repeat exercises 2, 
3a and 36. 

6. Stand with the weight well forward on one foot, 
with the other resting on the floor behind and slightly 
supporting the body; and repeat exercises 5a and 56. 

Initiation of Tone 
Use here 5 and 6 of the gesture exercises. • 

7. Stand erect with the weight well forward on one 
foot, chest expanded ; take an easy full breath and at the 
same time allow the jaw to drop and the throat muscles 
to relax. Then speak immediately and quickly, but not 
loudly, the vowel ah without inflection. 

Repeat several times, taking a new breath for each 
tone, and being sure to release the surplus breath after 
each tone. 

Make several tones on one pitch in quick succession; 
thus, ah-ah, ah-ah-ah, etc. These should be repeated on 
various pitches within easy range and with gradually 
increased range and volume. 



504 PUBLIC SPEAKING 



Support of Tone 



8. Observing conditions described in exercise 7, sustain 
with animation the vowel ah, stopping the tone the in- 
stant breath control is lost and tone quality deteriorates. 

Repeat on various pitches within easy range, gradu- 
ally increasing the range, intensity and duration of the 
tones. 

9. With good body and breathing conditions, count on 
♦ a sustained pitch and with a single breath for each group, 

as follows: one; one-two; one-two-three; one-two-three- 
four, etc. 

Be sure that there is a definite relaxation of the dia- 
phragm and the associated breathing muscles, after each 
group, and a definite but not strained, preparation for 
the next group. 

Eepeat on various pitches and gradually increase the 
number of counts in a single breath. 

10. Observing good conditions, chant some rhythmical 
poem, such as The Brook, or The Bells of Shandon. 
(See selections 26 and 27 below.) Begin the first line of 
each stanza on an easy pitch, and begin each successive 
line one interval higher. Accentuate the correct phras- 
ing and give a definite touch to each word, in order that 
the thought may be brought out, and thus keep the chant 
from drifting into a monotonous sing-song. 

Vowels ^ 

11. Eepeat exercises 7 and 8, using all the vowel 
^ sounds in the language. 

Consonants ^ 

12. Use various combinations of all the vowel and 
consonant sounds in the language, thus: ah-la, ah-ta, 
ah-ka, etc.; la-la, pa-pa, na-na, etc.; then rhythmically 
thus, la, la-la-la, la-la-la, la, la; ka, ka-ka-ka, ka-ka-ka, 
ka, ka, etc. 

1 See Curry's Mind and Voice, Chapter VIII. 



VOICE TRAINING 505 

Use various pitches with frequent change of tempo 
and volume. Precise and accurate movements of the 
speech organs are necessary, so that the sounds may be 
clear-cut and distinct. 

Range and Flexibility of Tone 

13. Sing the various vowels up and down the scale; 
then skip about freely from pitch to pitch. 

14. a. Count on a sustained pitch from one to ten, 
being sure to release the surplus breath after each count 
and to take a new breath for the next. Repeat with ris- 
ing inflections on each count; with falling inflections; 
with alternate rising and falling inflections. 

6. Count in groups of five with a long falling inflec- 
tion on one and the other four with shorter but definite 
inflections, successively falling; with a short rising in- 
flection on one, long falling inflection on two, and the 
others as before, etc. Count in groups of five with a 
long rising inflection on one and with successive rising 
inflections on the others; with a short rising inflection 
on one, long rising inflection on two, and the others as 
before, etc. 

c. Use some such simple sentence as the following (as 
an exercise in voice training, not in reading) : ^'I saw 
George this morning." *^Did you see George this morn- 
ing ? ' ' Use as much range and flexibility of voice as you 



i> 


s? A 


4 


4 


^^^. 


\ , A 4 




4 




/i 






p x^saw 




/in5? 
/morn- 


\saw 
\Geo(-ge 


Vthis 


/this 
/Georrfe 
/see ^ 


\tMs \morn- 

\m0rnin5 \;ng y 


yyou 



506 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

have under your control, and change the focus of atten- 
tion in successive repetitions to each word of the sen- 
tences. Put meaning into your speaking. 

On the preceding page is a diagram of exercises 14a, 
14& and 14c. 

Application of Exercises to Speech 

The reading and speaking of selections, such as are 
here given, should go hand in hand with all voice exer- 
cises. The selections should be practised, not carelessly, 
but with due consideration of the principles laid down 
in preceding chapters on attention, imagination and 
emotion. 

1. What ho, my jovial mates ! come on I we '11 frolic it 
Like fairies frisking in the merry moonshine ! 

—Scott. 

2. A song, oh a song for the merry May ! 

The cows in the meadow, the lambs at play, 
A chorus of birds in the maple tree 
And a world in blossom for you and me. 

3. O for a soft and gentle wind ! 

I heard a fair one cry ; 
But give to me the snoring breeze 

And white waves heaving high ; 
And white waves heaving high, my lads, 

The good ship tight and free ; 
The world of waters is our home, 

And merry men are we. — Cunningham. 

4. Who knows himself before he has been thrilled with indigna- 
tion at an outrage, or has heard an eloquent tongue, or has shared 
the throb of thousands in a national exultation or alarm? — Emer- 
son, 

5. Hurrah ! hurrah ! the west wind comes freshening down the bay ! 
The rising sails are filling, give way, my lads, give way. 

— Whittier. 

6. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean — roll ! 
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain. 

— Byron, 



VOICE TRAINING 507 

7. It was a lover and his lass, 

With a hey and a ho, and a hey-nonino ! 

That o'er the green cornfield did pass 

In the spring-time, the only pretty ring time 

When birds do sing hey-ding-a-ding ; 

Sweet lovers love the spring. — Shakespeare. 

8. Charge ! Chester, charge ! On ! Stanley, on ! 
Were the last words of Marmion. — Scott, 

9. W'en you see a man in woe, 

Walk right up and say "hullo!" 
Say "hullo'* and "how d' ye do?" 
"How's the world a-usin' you?" 
Slap the fellow on his back, 
Bring yer han' down with a whack ; 
Waltz right up, an' don't go slow. 
Grin an' shake an' say "hullo !" 

—S. W. Foss. 

10. Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee : 2% 

Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears. 
Our faith, triumphant o'er our fears, 
Are all with Thee — are all with Thee ! — Longfellow. 

11. Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can ; 

Come saddle your horses, and call up your men ; 

Come open the Westport, and let us gang free, 

And it 's room for the bonnets of bonnie Dundee ! — Scott. 

12. One of the illusions is, that the present hour is not the 
critical decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is 
the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, 
until he knows that every day is Doomsday. — Emerson. 

13. No man can accomplish that which benefits the ages and not 
suffer. Discoverers do not reap the fruit of what they discover. 
Reformers are pelted and beaten. Men who think in advance of 
their time are persecuted. They who lead the flock must fight the 
wolf. — Beecher, 

14. I go to prove my soul I 

I see my way as birds their trackless way. 
I shall arrive ! What time, what circuit first, 
I ask not; but unless God send His hail 



508 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Or blinding fireballs, sleet or stifling snow, 

In some time, His good time, I shall arrive ; 

He guides me and the bird. In His good time. — Browning. 

15. Come, all ye jolly shepherds, that whistle down the glen! 
I '11 tell ye of a secret that courtiers dinna ken : 

What is the greatest bliss that the tongue o' man can name? 
'T is to woo a bonnie lassie when the kye come hame. — Hogg, 

16. Words are instruments of music ; an ignorant man uses 
them for jargon ; but when a master touches them they have unex- 
pected life and soul. Some words sound out like drums ; some 
breathe memories sweet as flutes ; some call like a clarionet ; some 
shout a charge like trumpets ; some are sweet as children's talk ; 
others rich as a mother's answering back. 

17. When a man lives with God, his voice shall be as sweet as 
the murmur of the brook and the rustle of the corn. — Emerson, 

18. Over our manhood bend the skies ; 
Against our fallen and traitor lives 
The great winds utter prophecies ; 

With our faint hearts the mountain strives, 

Its arms outstretched, the druid wood 

W^aits with its benedicite. 

And to our rage's drowsy blood 

Still shouts the inspiring sea. — Lowell. 

19. Ye living flowers that skirt th' eternal frost ! 
Ye wild goats, sporting 'round the eagle's nest ! 
Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain storm ! 
Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds ! 
Ye signs and wonders of the elements ! 

Utter forth "God!" and fill the hills with praise! 

— Coleridge. 

20. There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
Which, taken at its flood, leads on to fortune ; 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life 

Is bound in shallows, and in miseries ; 

And we must take the current when it serves, 

Or lose our ventures. 

— Shakespeare. 



VOICE TRAINING 509 

21. Out of the night that covers me, 

Black as the pit from pole to pole. 
I thank whatever Gods may be 
For my unconquerable soul. 

It matters not how straight the gate, 

How charged with punishment the scroll, 
I am the master of my fate ; 
I am the captain of my soul. 
Invictus — William Ernest Henley. 

22. Fear Death? — to feel the fog in my throat, 

The mist in my face, 
When the snows begin, and the blasts denote 

I am nearing the place, 
The power of the night, the press of the storm, 

The post of the foe ; 
Where he stands, the Arch Fear in a visible form, 

Yet the strong man must go : 
For the journey is done and the summit attained. 

And the barriers fall, 
Tho' a battle 's to fight ere the guerdon be gained. 

The reward of it all. 
I was ever a fighter, so — one fight more. 

The best and the last ! 
I would hate that death bandaged my eyes, and forebore, 

And bade me creep past. 
No ! let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers 

The heroes of old. 
Bear the brunt, in a minute pay glad life's arrears 

Of pain, darkness and cold. 
For sudden the worst turns the best to the brave. 

The black minute 's at end, 
And the elements' rage, the fiend-voices that rave, 

Shall dwindle, shall blend, 
Shall change, shall become first a piece out of pain, 

Then a light, then thy breast, 
O thou soul of my soul ! I shall clasp thee again, 

And with God be the rest ! 
Prospice — Robert Browning. 

23. There lies the port : the vessel pufPs her sails : 
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners. 
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me, — 
That ever with a frolic welcome took 



510 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed 
Free hearts, free foreheads, — you and I are old ; 
Old age has yet his honor and his toil ; 
Death closes all : but something ere the end, 
Some work of noble note, may yet be done. 
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. 
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks ; 
The long day wanes ; the slow moon climbs ; the deep 
Moans round with many voices. Come my friends, 
'T is not too late to seek a newer world. 
Push off, and sitting well in order smite 
The sounding furrows ; for my purpose holds 
To sail beyond the sunset and the baths 
Of all the western stars, until I die. 
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down ; 
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, 
And see the great Achilles whom we knew. 
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and though 
We are not now that strength which in old days 
Moved earth and heaven ; that which we are, we are ; 
One equal temper of heroic hearts. 
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. 
Ulysses. — Tennyson. 

24. The suns of summer seared his skin. 
The cold his blood congealed ; 

The forest giants blocked his way ; 

The stubborn acres' yield 
He wrenched from them by dint of arm, 

And grim old Solitude 
Broke bread with him and shared his cot 

Within the cabin rude. 
The gray rocks gnarled his massive hands; 

The north wind shook his frame ; 
The wolf of hunger bit him oft ; 

The world forgot his name; 
But 'mid the lurch and crash of trees, 

Within the clearing's span 
Where now the bursting wheatheads dip. 

The Fates turned out — a man ! 
The Frontiersman. — Richard Wightman. 

25. The splendor falls on castle walls 

And snowy summits old in story; 



VOICE TRAINING 511 

The long light shakes across the lakes, 
And the wild cataract leaps in glory. 
Blow, bngle, blow, set the wild echoes flying ; 
Blow, bugle ; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. 

O hark, O hear ! how thin and clear, 

And thinner, clearer, further going ; 
O sweet and far, from cliff and scar, 

The horns of Elfland faintly blowing ! 
Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying ; 
Blow, bugle ; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. 

O love, they die in yon rich sky. 

They faint on hill or field or river ; 
Our echoes roll from soul to soul. 
And grow forever and forever. 
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying ; 
And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying. 
Bugle Song. — Tennyson. 

26. I come from haunts of coot and hern, 
I make a sudden sally. 
And sparkle out among the fern, 
To bicker down a valley. 

By thirty hills I hurry down. 

Or slip between the ridges; 
By twenty thorps, a little town, 

And half a hundred bridges. 

Till last by Philip's farm I flow 

To join the brimming river ; 
For men may come and men may go. 

But I go on forever. 
The Brook. — Tennyson, 

27. With deep affection and recollection, 

I often think of those Shandon bells, 
Whose sound so wild w^ould, in the days of childhood, 
Fling round my cradle their magic spells. 

On this I ponder where'er I wander, 

And thus grow fonder, sweet Cork, of thee, 

With thy bells of Shandon, that sound so grand, on 
The pleasant waters of the river Lee. 



512 PUBLIC SPEAKING 

I 've heard bells chiming full many a clime in, 

Tolling sublime in cathedral shrine ; 
While at a glib rate, brass tongues would vibrate ; 

But all their music spoke naught like thine. 

For memory dwelling, on each proud swelling 
Of thy belfry, knelling its bold notes free, 

Made the bells of Shandon sound far more grand, on 
The pleasant waters of the river Lee. 
The Bells of Shandon. — Mahony, 

28 and 29. The long period sentences quoted at p. 438. 



INDEX 



Abbott, Lyman, 391, 392, 393. 

Abstract ideas, difficult to at- 
tend to, 62: use of, treacher- 
ous, 64; not necessarily su- 
perior, 70. 

Abstract subjects, preparing 
speeches on, 85. 

Accuracy and authority of the 
speaker, 305 ff. 

Action, may not follow belief, 
187; determined by atten- 
tion, 191 ff; after delibera- 
tion, 193; to develop sense of 
responsibility, 207 ; sugges- 
tion and, 222; mob demands 
immediate, 241 ; securing 
future, 343. 

Activity, a means of interest- 
ing, 135. 

Admissions of an opponent, 295. 

Advertising, a means of in- 
creasing authoritativeness of 
the speaker, 225; use of 
repetition in, 287. 

Affectation, 16; in phrasing, 
170 f. 

Affections, as fundamental in- 
terests, 114; as motive, 197. 

Age and conservatism, 284. 

Agitator, 283, 307. 

Aiken, W. A., 501. 

A Liberal Education, selection, 
463. 

Alice in Wonderland, 132, 172. 

Amplification, and sustained 
attention, 152 f; and brevity, 
154; in persuasion, 213; as 
a means of suggestion, 224; 
affecting delivery, 436. 

Amusing an audience, 131, 311. 

Analogy, 141. 

513 



Analysis, of subjects, 80 ff, 
152 f; of audience, 396 ff; in 
outline, 402 ff. 

Angell, J. R., 57, 61, 76, 192. 

Anger, diminishes the influence 
of the speaker, 327. 

Antagonizing the audience, 134, 
257, 330 ff. 

Anticipation, to sustain atten- 
tion, 130; a factor in sugges- 
tion, 236. 

Antithesis, 169. 

Appeal, to emotion, 196; to a 
mob, 240 f. 

Approach, to the audience, 257 ; 
belligerent attitude to be 
avoided, 257 ; fi.nding common 
ground, 260 ; explanations, 
265; definition of terms in, 
267; order of arguments, 
270; concessions, 268; in the 
outline, 404, 414, 417. 

Approval and admiration, as 
motives, 201. 

Argument, exposition in, 177; 
review of accepted, in persua- 
sion, 212; place of logical, in 
persuasion, 248; both per- 
suasive and sound to be ef- 
fective, 249 ; emotion in, 250 ; 
effect of unrelated emotion 
on, 255 ; tendency of audience 
to resist, 259; rate of prog- 
ress in, 273; bearing of fixed 
opinions, principles and senti- 
ments on, 273 ff; precedent, 
288; authorities, 291; for 
future action, 344; see Be- 
lief, Authority, Approach to 
audience. Persuasion and be- 
lief. 



514 



INDEX 



Aristotle, classification of emo- 
tions, 197; justification o± 
persuasion, 339. 

Association, of the new with 
the old, 55; and emotion, 
103 ff. 

Athletics, speech subjects on, 
361. 

Attention, and delivery, general 
references, Chapters II, IV, 
XIII, XIV; principles of, 
50 ff; forms of, 51 ff; and in- 
terest, 53; sustained, 59; 
concreteness and, 62; imag- 
ination and, 73; of the 
speaker to his topic, 77 ff; 
economy of, 112; of the audi- 
ence, how won, 112 ff; imag- 
ination and attention of audi- 
ence, 139 ff; means of sus- 
taining, 152 ff; determines 
action, 192; belief, a problem 
of securing exclusive, 245; 
and remote action, 343; re- 
lation of ideas, 434 ff; see 
Centering, Audience, JSpeaker. 

Attitude, emotional, of audi- 
ence, 253, 346; speaker to 
avoid a belligerent, 257. 

Audience, contact with, Chap- 
ter II; attention of, Chapters 
VI, VIII, IX; necessity of 
interesting, 111; how win the 
attention of, 112 ff; funda- 
mental interests of, 113; dif- 
ferences in interests of, 115; 
relation of speaker to, 116 ff; 
the general, 118 ff; common 
interests of, 118 ff; means of 
interesting all, 120 ff; use of 
derived interest, 120; novelty 
and interest of, 123; the fa- 
miliar and interest of, 124; 
differences in relish for 
novelty, 126; making it 
think, 127; antagonizing the, 
134; consideration of, in 
choosing illustrations, 145 ; 
emotional attitude of, ap- 



proach to, 257; conservative 
or radical tendencies of, 279; 
fairness and courtesy toward, 
317; respect for, 318; not to 
be patronized, 321; tact in 
addressing, 329 ff ; convicting 
of ignorance, 330; should 
avoid humiliating, 331; need- 
less stirring of prejudices of, 
333; demands sincerity in 
the speaker, 335; considera- 
tion of, in choosing subjects, 
349 ff; salutation of, 493 f; 
see Attention, Emotion, Mo- 
tives, Interest, Sustained at- 
tention, and Suggestion. 

Authority, in suggestion, 224; 
effectiveness of, in argument, 
291 f; persuasive use of, 
291 f ; tests for an, 292; how 
attacked, 300 ; Lincoln's 
method of attacking, 301; 
the speaker as an, 304; used 
against exaggeration, 307 ; 
positiveness an element in, 
308; effect of humor on, 311; 
see Exaggeration. 

Await the Issue, a selection, 
465. 

Bacon, Lord, on reading, 377 f. 

Bailey, L. H., 280. 

Bain, A., 246, 278. 

Baker, G. P., 186, 198, 268, 382. 

Baldwin, J. M., 193, 254. 

Banquet speaking, and stories, 
132; usually purposeful, 189. 

Beecher, Henry Ward, his train- 
ing, 10; definition of oratory, 
188; use of motives, 198, 201; 
and crowd psychology, 234; 
finding common ground, 264; 
and self-respect, 326. 

Belief, as a purpose of speak- 
ing, 111; and action, 187; 
persuasion and, 245-348; and 
attention, 245 ; dependence 
of, upon experience, 247 ; logi- 
cal argument in securing, 



INDEX 



515 



248; emotion in securing, 
250; desire and, 253 flf; com- 
mon ground of, 262; reasons 
often absent for, 275 ; con- 
servatism and, 279 ff; see 
Persuasion and belief. 

Bell, Alexander Melville, 501. 

Belligerent attitude and persua- 
sion, 257. 

"Be natural," 28. 

Betts, W. H., 72. 

Beveridge, A. J., on humor, 
313; on self-confidence, 325. 

Bible, as a source of illustra- 
tion, 146, 147; a model of 
pure English, 322; PauFs 
persuasiveness, 341; refer- 
ences to Luke 18:10, 458, 
460, 462. 

Bluff, in college debates, 299. 

Bluntness, 172. 

Books, as authorities in argu- 
ments, 294; finding them, 
369 ff. 

Booth, Maud Ballington, 27. 

Bows, 493. 

Breathing, pause utilized for, 
440; exercises for, 502. 

Brevity, detail consistent with, 
143; virtue of, 154; not 
necessarily good, 154; sug- 
gestions for, 157. 

Brooks, Phillips, on speech 
preparation, 380; outline, 
399 

Bryan, W. J., 147, 170. 

Brvce, James, as an authority, 
295. 

Burke, Edmund, 214, 489. 

Burr, George L., 172. 

Business men and public speak- 
ing, 8. 

Campus topics for speech sub- 
jects, 352, 360. 

Carlyle, Thomas, 114, 465. 

Centering, 425 ff. 

Chairman, recognition of, 493; 
duties of, 495. 



Chart, in exposition, 179; 
speaker's, 396. 

Cicero, 45, 257, 417. 

Classical form of outline, 416 11. 

Clearness, and vividness needed 
by speaker, 50; through con- 
creteness, 63 ; imagination 
and, 73; as a purpose of 
speaking, 111; and brevity, 
156; consideration of audi- 
ence needed, 182; an essential 
of the outline, 406. 

Climax, in composition, 169; in 
order of argument, 270. 

Coherence, in composition, 164; 
Wendell Phillips and, 165; 
in the outline, 407; in de- 
livery, 442. 

College classes in public speak- 
ing, 12. 

College students and clearness, 
183; and modesty, 323. 

College oratory, 17, 164. 

Common ground, 260; of inter- 
est, 260: of feeling, 260; of 
belief, 262; methods of find- 
ing, 263 ff ; see Persuasion 
and belief. 

Commonplace and platitude, 
119. 

Composition, 168. 

Concessions, 268. 

Conclusion of an outline, 406, 
418. 

Concreteness and attention, 62 ; 
and clearness, 63; Dewey's 
definitions, 68; and interest 
of the audience, 135; and sus- 
tained attention, 153; and 
persuasion, 215. 

Conduct, a purpose of speak- 
ing, 111, 184-244; see Per- 
suasion. 

Conflict, interest in, 134. 

Conservatism, and persuasion, 
279; considerations in judg- 
ing, 279 ff; overcoming, 286. 

Consonants, exercises for, 504. 

Contra-suggestion, 229. 



516 



INDEX 



Conventions, stampeding, 234, 
236. 

Conversational delivery, analy- 
sis of, 30. 

Conversational quality, not con- 
versational style, 28; recrea- 
tion of thought, 30 f; sense 
of communication, 31; in 
reading, 33 ; in speaking from 
manuscript, 34; in speaking 
from memory, 34; in extem- 
poraneous speaking, 36; di- 
rectness, 37 ; interrogation 
helps to gain, 170. 

Conversational public speaking, 
misconceptions of, 25 ; need 
not sound like conversation, 
25; "a gentleman convers- 
ing," 27; not less dignified or 
eloquent, 26; not necessarily 
good, 41. 

Conversing with an audience, 
20-49. 

Conviction, exposition as a 
means to, 176; definition of, 
185; in college debating, 337; 
mood of, 345 ; strongest, rests 
on both reason and emotion, 
346; see Argument, Belief, 
Persuasion. 

Coordination, exercises for, 
physical, 479. 

Corax, 417. 

Corson, Hiram, 446. 

Correlation and subordination, 
in an outline, 407 ff. 

Courtesy, 317. 

Crane, T. F., 5. 

Criticism, in learning public 
speaking, 13; of self, 89; of 
gesture, 481, 485. 

Crowd, homogeneous, 231 ; char- 
acteristics of, 231; desirabil- 
ity of forming, 233; methods 
of forming, 234; in a conven- 
tion stampede, 236; may be- 
come a mob, 237; ethics ot 
use of suggestion on, 241 ; see 
Mobs. 



Curiosity and attention of the 

audience, 129. 
Curry, S. S,, 476, 501, 504. 
Curtis, George William, 149, 

189, 282, 357, 462. 
Curzon, Earl, 4. 
Cynicism, 339. 



Darwin, Charles, on origin of 
gesture, 469. 

Debating, use of authority in, 
298 ff; use of letters as au- 
thority, 299; "bluff '^ in, 299; 
attacking authority, 300 ff; 
display of anger, 327; sin- 
cerity in, 337; see Argument, 
Authority, Approach, Belief. 

Declamation, see Selections. 

Definition of terms, 267. 

DeGarmo, Charles, 50, 63. 

Delivery, Chapters II, IV, V, 
XIII, XIV, XV, XVI; right 
thinking necessary, 17; con- 
versing with an audience, 20- 
49 ; conversational quality 
in, 28; "Be natural" insuffi- 
cient advice, 28; conversa- 
tional delivery analyzed, 30; 
directness, 37; will power, 
39; mechanical methods, 44; 
imitation, 47 ; individuality 
of, 47; attention in, 31 ff, 
50 ff, 424 ff ; preparation for, 
93, 105, 420 ff; imagery dur- 
ing, 93 ; staleness in, 96 ; emo- 
tion in, 97-108; and compo- 
sition, 167; centering and 
emphasis, 426 ff ; thought re- 
lations in, 434 ff ; coherence 
of, 434 ff, 441; pause, 439; 
monotony, 442; delivery of 
selections, 445-468; see Ex- 
temporaneous Speaking, 
Written Speech. 

Demosthenes, 336. 

Denunciation, 258; opprobrious 
epithets, 258. 

Derived interest, and attention. 



INDEX 



517 



54, 78; and attention of au- 
dience, 120. 

Derived primary attention, 52. 

Desire, and persuasion, 196; 
and belief, 251. 

Detail, in illustration, 142 ff. 

Dewey, John, 68, 127, 137, 196. 

Diagrams, 139, 144, 179. 

Dignity of bearing. 316, 326. 

Directness of delivery, 36, 37. 

Discussion, in an outline, 446. 

Distinctness of voice, 498. 

Dolliver, J. P., 6, 321. 

Dull subjects, how to make in- 
teresting, 55, 78. 



Earnestness, 338. 

Echo, and coherence, 165; and 
delivery, 435 ff. 

Education and study of public 
speaking, 14. 

Elimination, and unity, 162. 

Elocution, 16. 

Emerson, R. W., 218, 342. 

Emotion, in delivery, 97-108; 
and sincerity, 98; in all good 
speaking, 98; not to be as- 
sumed, 99; can a speaker 
command? 100; repression of, 
100; James-Lange theory of, 
101; developed from ideas, 
103; and associations, 103; 
effect of analysis on, 105; 
time element in preparing, 
105 ; preparing for speaking, 
105; balancing with thought, 
105; emotional drift during 
delivery, 107; in exposition, 
183; in persuasion, 195; re- 
lation to motives, 196; Aris- 
totle's classification, 197 ; 
bald appeal to, 205; con- 
cerned with particulars, 215; 
and suggestibility, 230; and 
the psychological crowd, 231; 
in argument. 250 ff; common 
ground of, 261; in beliefs of 
educated men, 275 ; mood, the 



residue of, 346; gesture and, 
469. 

Emphasis, in composition, 167; 
a result of centering, 426, 
443; mechanical, 426, 443; 
structural, in delivery, 441; 
gesture for, 473, 490. 

Endurance of voice, 499. 

Engineer, needs training in pub- 
lic speaking, 7. 

Entertainment as an end, 111. 

Epigrams, 154. 

Epithets, opprobrious, 257. 

Essenwein, J. B., 381. 

Ethical questions, speech sub- 
jects from, 364. 

Ethics, of use of motives, 197 f ; 
of suggestion, 241; of per- 
suasion, 339; and originality 
in speeches, 383. 

Exaggeration, and authority, 
305 ff; tends to misunder- 
standing, 306; places speaker 
in hands of opponents, 307; 
and positiveness, 308; and 
hyperbole, 308; strength of 
understatement, 309. 

Exercises for bearing and ges- 
ture, 447 ff; for voice train- 
ing, 502 ff. 

Exordium, 417. 

Explanation, in finding common 
ground, 265; see Exposition. 

Exposition, importance of, 176; 
in argument, 177; speeches 
purely expository, 177; 
methods of, 178: use of pic- 
tures, charts, and maps, 179; 
clearness in, 182; students 
unfitted for, 183; emotion in, 
184; and persuasion, 219, 
265; as part of introduction, 
417. 

Expository speech, 176-184; 
suggestions for topics, 363; 
outline of, 412 ff, 420. 

Extemporaneous speaking, con- 
versational quality in, 36; 
and written speeches, 385 ff ; 



518 



INDEX 



meaning of term, 385; advan- 
tages and defects of, 385 ff; 
combined with memorizing, 
388; reducing defects of, 
389 ff; demands good prep- 
aration, 392; use of outline, 
421. 
Eye, effect of in speaking, 
39. 

Facts, power of, 288. 
Fairness, as a motive, 200; in 

common ground, 269; qualifi- 
cation of an authority, 294; 

in the speaker, 317. 
Faith and action, 210. 
Familiar, interest in the, 58; 

interest of audience in, 124; 

triteness, 124; as a means 

of overcoming conservatism, 

286; words, 322. 
Fear, as a motive, 202. 
Feeling, unity of, 159 f; in 

crowd, 231; common ground 

of, 261; see Emotion. 
Figures of speech, 148 ff. 
Fixed opinions, principles and 

sentiments, in persuasion, 

273 ff. 
Fluency, a danger, 17. 
Force, 168, 170 ff; and slang, 

173; of imagery, 217-222. 
Foster, W. F., 215, 270, 294, 

296, 298, 379. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 287, 323, 

325. 

Gardiner, J. H., 64. 

General words, 65, 67. 

Generalizations, 65, 67 ; "glit- 
tering generalities," 82 ; have 
persuasive force, 216. 

"Gentleman conversing," 26, 
495. 

Genung, 152, 163, 168, 213, 257, 
309, 312, 357. 

Gesture, 468-491 ; a means of 
expression, 468; adapted to 
the expression of feeling, 469 ; 



origin of, 469; metaphorical 
character of, 470; frees from 
restraint, 470 ; inevitable, 
471; effect on feeling, 472; 
from impulse, 473; first stage 
of training, 473; poise, 474; 
free body action in, 474; ex- 
ercises for, 476; second stage 
of training, 481; shades of 
meaning, 482; third stage of 
training, 483; kinds of, 
486 ff; locative, 486; illustra- 
tive, 488; suggestive, mani- 
festive, emphatic, 490. 

Gettysburg Address, illustrat- 
ing brevity, 156; an example 
of unity, 160; model for oc- 
casional address, 189; echo 
in, 435. 

^'Gift of gab," 17. 

Gladstone, W. E., 88, 389. 

Good Humor, 327. 

Grady, H. W., 91. 

Halleck, 81, 140, 220. 
Hamlet, 132, 154, 194. 
Health, as an interest, 113; as 

motive, 197; an element of 

the speaker's power, 316; 

voice training beneficial to, 

497. 
Helmholtz, H. L. F., 60. 
Henry, Patrick, 322. 
Hesitation, 440. 

Heterogeneous audience, inter- 
ests of a, 118; formed into a 

crowd, 231. 
Hill, A. S., 65. 
History, as a field for speech 

subjects, 351, 364; sources of 

facts of, 374. 
Hoar, George F., 4. 
Hollingworth, H. L., 135. 
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 89, 

276. 
Honesty and tact, 339. 
Honor, a fundamental interest, 

113; as a motive, 197. 
Hughes, Charles E., 7, 119. 



INDEX 



519 



Hugo, Victor, 144. 

Humor, and attention of the au- 
dience, 131 if ; disposes of hos- 
tility, 261; and authorita- 
tiveness of the speaker, 311; 
not inconsistent with serious 
purposes, 313; Lincoln's use 
of, 313; see Good Humor. 

Huxlev. Thomas, 254, 463. 

Hyperbole, 308. 

Ibsen, Henrik, 15. 

Ideas, acquiring of, as a system 
of grafting, 56; developing 
emotion from, 103; impress a 
single idea, 161; uncontrolled 
association of, 161 ; exclusive 
attention to an idea results 
in action, 191 ff; inhibiting 
action, 192; motor, 220; dy- 
namic nature of, 223; and 
suggestion, 223; exclusive at- 
tention to. secures belief, 245 ; 
original, 380 ff. 

Identification, to make a mo- 
tive effective, 203; to secure 
assent to a new proposal, 
276 ff. 

Illustration, and early prepara- 
tion, 89; used to secure de- 
rived interest, 122; specific 
and general, 138; suggestions 
for, 141 ff. 

Imagery, kinds of, 70; during 
delivery, 93; variations in 
use of, 151; Emerson quoted, 
218; images of motion, 220; 
a mob thinks in, 239. 

Imagination, 70 ff; and images, 
71; and the imaginary, 72; 
"a commonplace, necessary 
process,^' 72; and attention, 
73; and clearness, 73; social 
value of, 74; productive and 
reproductive, 74; needs ma- 
terial to work with, 75; in 
speech preparation, 83; and 
attention of the audience, 
139 ff; use of analogy, 141; 



in sustaining attention, 153; 
in persuasion, 217; and con- 
servatism, 286; and s\Tii- 
pathy, 329. 

Imitation, in learning public 
speaking, 47 ; a factor in sug- 
gestion, 225. 

Impersonation, with selections, 
447; gesture in, 489. 

Impression, premanency of, 
343 ff. 

Impromptu speaking, 385. 

Impulse, to gesture, 473. 

Individuality of the speaker, 
14; destroyed by imitation, 
47. 

Inflection, 437. 

Influencing conduct, see Persua- 
sion. 

Influence of the speaker, af- 
fected by reputation, 116; by 
age, 117; by rashness of 
statement, 305; by humor, 
311; moral character, 314; 
personality, 315; health, 316; 
bv attitude toward audience, 
317-339. 

Imitation of tone, 503. 

Inspiration, 90 ff, 398, 422. 

Interest, and attention, 53; 
grows with knowledge, 54, 
90; derived, 54; and novelty, 
5Q; in the familiar, 58; and 
the attention of the audience, 
Cliapter VI ; as speaker's pur- 
pose, 111; necessity of inter- 
esting the audience. 111; 
fundamental interests of au- 
dience, 113; the human in- 
terest, 114; differences in 
groups, 115; variation of in- 
terests of same group, 115; 
as affected by the speaker, 
116; of a general audience, 
118 ff; derived, to reach the 
audience, 120 ff; novelty, 
123; and the familiar, 124; 
triteness, 124; sensational 
methods, 128; curiosity, 129; 



520 



INDEX 



suspense and anticipation, 
130; humor, 131; conflict, 
134; activity, 135; concrete- 
ness of expression, 135; use 
of specific, 137; imagination, 
139; illustration, 141 ff; fig- 
ures of speech, 148 ff; ampli- 
fication, 154; variety, 158; 
elements of composition, 
159 ff; to secure postponed 
action, 345; relation to 
speech subjects, 350 ff; see 
Attention. 

Interrogation, and force, 170. 

Introduction, to make hearers 
well disposed, 257; of out- 
line, 404, 417, 419 ff; see Ap- 
proach. 

James, William, 15, 53, 54, 56, 
58, 60, 101, 123, 152, 191, 
194, 195, 203, 208, 245, 277, 
425, 457. 

James-Lange theory of Emo- 
tions, 101. 

Jevons, W. S., 63. 

Ketcham, V. A., 132. 
Kirby, E. N., 454. 
Knowledge and interest, 54. 

Language, concrete and ab- 
stract, 62 ff, 135 ff; effective 
phrasing, 170; common peo- 
ple like to hear good, 322; 
tact in choice of, 335; inade- 
quate for expression, 468; 
gesture the original, 469; see 
Figures of Speech. 

Lavisse, Ernest, 279. 

Lawyers, speaking a help to, 7 ; 
use emotion in argument, 255. 

Leadership and public speaking, 
14. 

Le Bon, G., 232, 240, 243, 274, 
382 

Lee, D. C, 453. 

Liberal Education, a selection, 
463. 



Lincoln, Abraham, preparing a 
speech on, 62, 81, 82, 84, 117, 
152 ; Lincoln-Douglas de- 
bates, 301, 307, 325, 328; use 
of common ground, 266; fair- 
ness of, 270; meeting author- 
ity, 301; misrepresented by 
Douglas, 307; his humor, 
313; respect for his audience, 
320; humility of, 325; good 
humor of, 328. 

Literary facts, sources of, 375. 

Literature, as a field for speech 
subjects, 351, 356. 

Lloyd-George, D., effective 
phrases of, 219. 

Locative gestures, 486. 

Logic,^ and persuasion, 247 f ; 
and emotion, 254. 

Lowell, A. Lawrence, 9, 215, 
256. 

Lowell, James Eussell, 310, 381, 
382. 

McDougall, W., 196, 229, 243. 

Manifestive gestures, 490. 

Manners on platform, 492-496. 

Manuscript, speaking from, 34, 
388. 

Maps, in exposition, 179. 

Marsh, G. P., 309. 

Material, needed for imagina- 
tion, 75; working of, in 
speech preparation, 82; imag- 
ination used on speech ma- 
terials, 140; for illustration, 
sources of, 146; considered 
from different angles, 153; 
finding, for speech, 369 ff ; for 
selections, 449; see Speech 
preparation. 

Matthews, Brander, 310, 388. 

Mechanical methods, of deliv- 
ery, 44; useful in gathering 
materials, 80, 379; not desir- 
able to secure emphasis, 426, 
443. 

Memory, speaking from, 34, 387. 

Memorizing, 34, 387, 456, 457. 



INDEX 



521 



Mills, Wesley, 501. 

Misrepresentation, in debate, 
307. 

Mob, 237 ff; control of, 238 ff; 
see Suggestion, Crowds. 

Modesty, 323. 

Monotony, of emotion in deliv- 
ery, 107; and sustained atten- 
tion, 152; in repetition, 213; 
as a method of suggestion, 
236; in delivery, 442. 

Mood, of conviction, 349. 

Moral character and the speak- 
er's influence, 314. 

Motives, 196 ff; ethical use of, 
197; high and low, 198 f; 
fairness, 200; desire for ap- 
proval and admiration, 201 ; 
rivalry, 202; fear, 202; not 
always best to mention, 203; 
bald appeal to, 205. 

Muchmore, G. B., 476, 502. 

Music, increasing suggestibility, 
235. 



Naturalness, varied meanings 
of, 28 f; study needed for de- 
velopment of, 30, 172. 

New idea and echo, 435. 

Newcomer, A. G., 197. 

Note taking, 80, 82, 379. 



Observation and illustrations, 

147. 
Occasion, relation of speaker to, 

116; and appeal to motives, 

204; the subject suggested by, 

349. 
Oral reading, conversational 

elements in, 33; improved by 

the study of selections, 446; 

see Manuscript. 
Orators, born, 110. 
Oratory, the term, 4, 6; of the 

•'college'' kind, 17. 
Order, of details in illustration, 

144; of argument, 270. 



Organizations, value of, in per- 
suasion, 210; are conserva- 
tive, 281. 

Origin and history of a ques- 
tion, 266. 

Original speeches, best to begin 
yvith, 4:4:5; see Originality. 

Originality, 380 ff; moral as- 
pects of, 383. 

Outline, value of, 395; objec- 
tions to, 398 ff; analysis in, 
402; parts of, 404 ff; clear- 
ness, 406; coherence, 164, 
407; tests of, 410; the classi- 
cal form of, 416; suggested 
form, 419; use of, 420. 

Parallel constructions, an aid 
to coherence, 165. 

Paraphrasing, statements of an 
authority, 298; not original 
work, 382. 

Partition, in outlines, 418. 

Paul, and the ethics of persua- 
sion, 341. 

Pause, 439 ff. 

Peroration, 406, 418. 

Personality, in a crowd, 230, 
235, 241 ; an element in power 
of speaker, 315 ff. 

Persuasion, Chapters VIII, IX; 
exposition as a means to, 
176; influencing conduct 
when active opposition is 
lacking, 185 ff; definition of 
the term, 185, 194; compared 
with conviction, 185 ff"; belief 
and action, 187; the chief 
purpose of public speaking, 
188; hearers classified with 
reference to, 189; foundation 
principle of, 191 ff; "what 
holds attention determines 
action," 191; action after de- 
liberation, 193; the theory 
of, 194; conventional theory 
of, 195; significance of emo- 
tion in, 195; bald appeal to 
emotion, 203; sense of re- 



522 



INDEX 



sponsibility, 205; compelling 
people to face the truth, 208; 
faith, 210; value of organiza- 
tion, 210; manner of present- 
ing proposal, 211; keeping 
proposal before attention, 
212 if; concrete and specific 
expression, 215 f; influence of 
imagination, 217; and sug- 
gestion, 222 ff; see Sugges- 
tion, Persuasion and belief. 

Persuasion and belief, Chapter 
IX ; belief and attention, 245 ; 
logical argument in, 248; 
emotional element in sound 
argument, 250; effect of de- 
sire, 251; effect of prejudice, 
255; approach to an audi- 
ence, 257 ff; belligerent atti- 
tude, 257; common ground, 
260 ff; explanations, 265; 
definition of terms, 267; con- 
cessions, 268 ; the issues, 269 ; 
order of argument, 270; rate 
of progress, 273; fixed opin- 
ions, principles and senti- 
ments, 273; identifying be- 
liefs, 276; conservative and 
radical tendencies of the au- 
dience, 279 ff; forces against 
change, 281; overcoming con- 
servatism, 286 ; persuasive 
use of authority, 291; atti- 
tude of the speaker, 304 ff; 
not trickery, 339; future ac- 
tion, 343 ff; the ''mood" of 
conviction, 345. 

Persuasiveness of the speaker, 
effect of personal qualities, 
304 ff. 

Phelps, Austin, 155, 168, 309, 
322. 

Phillips, A. E., Ill, 114, 197. 

Phillips, Wendell, "a gentleman 
conversing," 27; an exemplar 
of conversational style, 28 
speaking from memory, 35 
his coherence and force, 165 
use of suggestion, 233, 249 



of common ground, 262; use 
of understatement, 310. 

Phrasing, 425 ff . 

Picturing gestures, 488. 

Pillsbury, W. B., 54, 118, 192, 
246 f. 

Pitch, 444; change from nat- 
ural, 499. 

Plan, importance of, 393 ff ; how 
to make, 394 ff. 

Pleasure, a fundamental inter- 
est, 114. 

Poise, and gesture, 474; exer- 
cises for, 476; on the plat- 
form, 484. 

Political science, a field for 
speech subjects, 350, 362. 

Positiveness, an element in au- 
thoritativeness, 308. 

Power, a fundamental interest, 
113; a motive, 197. 

Practical, the, interest in, 70, 
137. 

Practical public speaking, 7, 
16. 

Practical thinking, 70, 137. 

Preacher, oral reading of, 33; 
age of, and effectiveness, 117; 
and sensational methods, 
128; use of anticipation, 130; 
brevity of sermons, 157; 
vaudeville type of, 158; unity 
of sermons, 163; Robert Col- 
lier's "naturalness," 172; be- 
lief without action, 187; 
omitting the exhortation, 
204, 333 ; bringing home indi- 
vidual responsibility, 206 ; 
finding common ground, 263, 
265; indulgence in the ex- 
clamatory style, 310; appeal 
to duty, 333; Phillips Brooks 
on the preacher's reading, 
380: on outlining, 399; 
Beecher on extemporaneous 
preaching, 386; on writing, 
390; Lyman Abbott quoted, 
390, 391, 392, 393; Dr. Storrs 
quoted, 391; writing sermons. 



INDEX 



523 



390 ff; making a plan, 393; 
an outline, 399 ff. 

Precedent, overcomes conserva- 
tism, 288; fallacies of, 290. 

Prejudice, appealing to, 197, 
255; may be good, 197, 346; 
influence on belief, 255 ff; 
disqualifies an authority, 294, 
303 ; sometimes needlessly 
stirred, 333. 

Preparation, of selections for 
delivery, 453; of speeches, see 
Speech preparation. 

Press, supplanting public speak- 
ing, 6. 

Primary attention, 51. 

Property, a fundamental inter- 
est, 113; a motive, 197. 

Psychological crowd, 231 ff. 

Public questions, speech sub- 
jects from, 355, 362. 

Public speaking, demand for, 
3; compared with the power 
of the press, 6; a subject for 
study, 10 ff; distinguish from 
elocution, reading, and "col- 
lege oratory," 16, 448; what 
is to be learned? 18; educa- 
tional value, 14; a normal 
act, 20; and private conver- 
sation compared, 20 ff; pur- 
poses of, 111; persuasion the 
chief purpose of, 188. 

Purpose, importance of, 109 
purposes of a speaker. 111 
unity of, in a speech, 149 
persuasion, the chief, 189 
consideration of, in choosing 
a subject, 357. 

Quintilian, 314. 

Quotations, in exact words, 
298. 

Pv-adical audience, 279 ff. 
Range of voice, 499. 505. 
Pvate of delivery, 42, 430, 440. 
Rate of progress in argument, 
273. 



Reading in speech preparation, 
81, 376 ff; taking notes in, 
80, 82, 379; see Oral reading, 
Manuscript. 

Reason, and emotion, 196, 
250 ff; not always the foun- 
dation of conviction, 273 ff. 

Reform, 282 ff. 

Relations of ideas, 80 ff, 164, 
402 ff, 407 ; as affecting de- 
livery, 434 ff, 455 ; see Analy- 
sis. 

Recreation of thought in deliv- 
ery, 31. 

Relaxation, exercises for, 
477. 

Repetition, in persuasion, 212; 
set phrases, 212; and sugges- 
tion, 224; to overcome con- 
servatism, 287. 

Reputation, a fundamental in- 
terest, 113; as motive, 197; 
and authority, 292; and 
attacking authority, 301 ff'; 
and authoritativeness of a 
speaker, 224 f, 304 ff; for 
sincerity, 335. 

Responsibility, sense of, and 
conduct, 205: effect of num- 
bers on, 230 f ; lost in a mob, 
238. 

Restatement, in persuasion, 
212 f; affecting delivery, 436, 
455. 

Restraint, of emotion, 100; ges- 
ture and, 472 f ; lack of, in a 
crowd, 231. 

Righteousness, a fundamental 
interest, 113, 

Ring^valt, R. S., 117, 417. 

Rivalry as a motive, 202. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 115, 219, 
293 295 334. 

Root/Elihu, 11*4, 200, 281, 295, 
390. 

Ross, E. A., 74, 223, 226, 241, 
243. 

Royce, Josiah, 57, 59, 64, 230. 

Rules of thumb, 18. 



524 



INDEX 



Scheme for study of a selection, 
454. 

Schopenhauer, A., 47, 65. 

Schurman, J. G., 5. 

Scott, W. D., 70, 223, 243. 

Secondary attention, 51. 

Selecting the subject, 349 ff; 
see Speech subjects. 

Selections, study and delivery 
of, 445 ff; kind to be used, 
477; how to find, 449; quali- 
ties of a good, 451; prepara- 
tion of, 453; partial analysis 
of, "Who is to blame?" 457; 
for voice training, 506 ff. 

Self-centeredness of the speak- 
er, 109, 114. 

Self-confidence, 323 ff. 

Self-control, 328. 

Self-expression, value of, 15. 

Self-respect, and influence of 
the speaker, 326. 

Sensationalism, 128. 

Sense of communication, 31 ff. 

Sentimentality and emotion, 
97. 

Sentiments, as interests, 113; 
as motives, 197. 

Sermons, see Preachers. 

Shurter, E. D., 216. 

Sidis, B., 228, 230, 235, 243. 

Simplicity of style, 163. 

Sincerity, and emotion, 97; in 
the use of language, 171; in 
apologies, 323; in' persuasion, 
335; in debating, 337. 

Slang, 173. 

Snowdon, Mrs. Phillip, 307. 

Social suggestion, 226 ff. 

Social science as a field for 
speech subjects, 351; topics 
from, 363. 

Social welfare as a human in- 
terest, 113. 

Soliloquizing speaking, 32 ff. 

Speaker, his attention, Chap- 
ters II, III, IV, XIII; his 
emotion, Chapter V; his pur- 
poses, 111; relation to audi- 



ence, occasion and theme, 
116, 334; his age, 117; his 
authority, 225, 304; factors 
in influence of, 305 ff; atti- 
tude toward audience, 257j» 
317; personality, 315. 

Speaker's chart, 396. 

Specific words, 67; and inter- 
est, 137; specific and general 
applied to illustration, 138; 
and concrete in persuasion, 
215; see Concreteness, Imag- 
ination. 

Speech preparation, developing 
interest, 77 ff; stages of, 
79 ff; preliminary revisal, 
79; reading and conversing, 
81; working the material, 
82; imagination in, 83; pre- 
paring an abstract subject, 
85; expression during, 87; 
time needed, 88; finding ma- 
terial, 369 ft'; what to read, 
376; how to read, 377; tak- 
ing notes, 378; originality, 
380 ff; extemporaneous or 
written, 385 ff; plan, 393 ff; 
speaker's chart, 396; outline, 
395 ff; see Lincoln, Speech 
subjects, and Outlines. 

Speech subjects, should be of 
interest, 77; relation of 
speaker to, 116; should be 
narrowed, 92, 152, 157, 161, 
358; suggested by the occa- 
sion, 349; suggestions for 
finding, 349 ff; should have 
interest for both speaker and 
audience, 350; sources of, 
350 ff; and purposes of the 
speaker, 357; mood of the oc- 
casion considered, 358; time 
element in treatment of, 358 ; 
adapted to oral presentation, 
359; suggested topics, 359 fi*; 
see Lincoln. 

Spencer, Herbert, 67, 145. 

Staleness, in delivery, 94. 

Stories, not the only means of 



INDEX 



525 



humor, 133; a means of find- 
ing common ground, 261. 

Storrs, R. S., 391. 

Strunsky, Simeon, 130, 158. 

8tump speakers, sincerity of, 
337; voice inflection of, 439. 

Subjects, see Speech subjects. 

Subordination, necessary for 
unity, 161 f; and correlation 
in the outline, 408; in deliv- 
ery, 434. 

Suggestion, meaning of, 222; 
methods of, 224; and author- 
ity, 224; repetition, 224; the 
impulse to imitate, 225; so- 
cial, 226; and immediate ac- 
tion, 227; direct and indi- 
rect, 228; contra- suggestion, 
229 ; increasing suggestibil- 
ity, 230; effect of numbers, 
230; the psychological crowd, 
231; forming a crowd, 233 ff; 
stampeding political conven- 
tions, 234, 236; mobs, 237 ff; 
ethics of, 241. 

Suggestive gestures, 490. 

Summarizing, in preparing for 
delivery, 441. 

Suspense and attention, 130. 

Sustained attention, 59, 152; in 
persuasion, 212 ff. 

Sympathy, factor in court de- 
cisions, 252 f; and influence 
of the speaker, 328; in tact, 
329. 

Tact, in exposition, 184; in use 
of motives, 204; in disarm- 
ing opposition to argument, 
257 f; a combination of vari- 
ous qualities, 329; convicting 
the audience of ignorance, 
330; admissions helpful, 331; 
needless raising of prejudice, 
333; and the appeal to duty, 
333 ; relation of speaker to 
audience, 334; care in use of 
language, 335; and honesty, 
339 



Taft, \Yilliam H., 200, 295. 

Talmage, DeWitt, 292. 

Taylor, W. W., 133. 

Tests, of authority, 292 ff; of 
an outline, 410. 

Thanatopsis, illustrating for- 
ward-looking thought, 438. 

Theory, and practice in public 
speaking, 9. 

Thinking and delivery, 17, 
Chapters II, III, IV, XIII, 
442; on one's feet, 31 ff; 
checked by mechanical meth- 
ods, 46, 427; imitation re- 
lieves from, 47; theoretical 
versus practical, 69; in prep- 
aration. Chapter IV; balance 
of thought and feeling, 105; 
making the audience think, 
127; average man interested 
only in the practical, 137; 
and sincerity of expression, 
172; while reading, 377; and 
memory, 457. 

Thorndike, E. L., 54, 194, 196. 

Time, in preparation, 88; and 
emotion, 105. 

Titchener, E. B., 50, 51, 151, 
192. 

Topics, 503 ff; see Speech sub- 
jects. 

Triteness, 124; in student 
speakers, 125. 

Twain, Mark, 311, 322. 

Uncertainty and attention, 130. 

Understatement, strength of, 
309. 

Unity, in variety, 158 ff; kinds 
of unity, 159; of the Gettys- 
burg Address, 160; warnings, 
161; and coherence, 164; re- 
lation to emphasis, 167; of 
delivery, 441. 

Van Dyke, Henry, 171. 
Variety, of imagery, 151; unity 

in, 158; of delivery, 442. 
Verbosity, 154. 



526 



INDEX 



quality 
desired, 



Vividness of thinking, 50, 62 ff; 
in preparation, 83; see Imag- 
ination. 

Voice, communicative 
of, 38 ; qualities 
498 ff. 

Voice training, place of, 44; 
general reference, 497 ff; 
qualities to be developed, 
498; references for, 501; ex- 
ercises for, 502 ff; selections 
for, 506. 

Vowels, exercises for, 504. 

Waite, H. M., 8. 

Ward, J. C, 78, 87. 

Washington, Booker T., 276, 
333. 

Washington, George, 301. 

Webster, Daniel, a conversa- 
tional public speaker, 25; on 
extemporaneous acquisition, 
90; his illustrations, 148; 
emotional appeal before the 
Supreme Court, 253; dispos- 
ing of prejudice, 255; find- 
ing common ground, 264; de- 
fying authority, 301; prac- 



tice of understatement, 309; 
not devoid of humor, 313; 
reputation and influence of, 
315; personality, 316; and 
memorizing, 389. 

Wendell, Barrett, 148, 165, 182, 
262, 305. 

Whately, Richard, 185. 

White, Andrew D., 5, 14, 234, 
416, 497. 

Whitefield, George, 36, 218. 

Who is to Blame? a selection, 
462; study of, 457. 

Wiley, Dr. H., 209. 

Will, in the theory of persua- 
sion, 185, 195. 

Willcox, W, F., 293. 

Will power in delivery, 39. 

Wilson, Woodrow, 88, 207, 254, 
295. 

Wish to believe, 251, 272. 

Writing, in preparing a speech, 
87 ; extemporaneous speaker 
should practise, 390. 

Written speech, 34, 387; and 
the outline, 421; see Manu- 
script. 



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